A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter S

Samsara

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth driven by karma, from which liberation (moksha) is sought in Indian religions.

Detailed Definition
Samsara symbolizes the transient, suffering-laden nature of worldly existence, governed by cause and effect (karma). In poetry, it is depicted as an ocean of illusion, a wheel of fire, or a dream from which the soul must awaken. Bhakti and philosophical verses alike lament its sorrows while offering paths to escape—through devotion, knowledge, or righteous action. Poets use samsara to evoke the urgency of spiritual practice, the fragility of life, and the contrast between ephemeral pleasures and eternal truth. Its imagery underscores the human condition as one of longing for release.
Example
Example in poetry:
In a Upanishadic poem, saṃsāra is “the wheel of birth and death—spun by karma’s wind”; A modern verse: “Saṃsāra isn’t myth—it’s the cycle of craving I repeat daily”; A minimalist lyric: “Saṃsāra: ocean of becoming”; A student’s reflection: “I thought I wanted out—now I seek to navigate it wisely.”
Additional Notes
Samsara is a foundational concept in Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism) representing the cyclical, suffering-laden nature of conditioned existence. It is powered by karma (action and its consequences). For a poet, Samsara is a rich metaphor for existential struggle, the treadmill of worldly desires, and the human condition of impermanence and repeated disappointment. The ultimate spiritual goal in these traditions is to break free from this cycle, achieving Moksha (liberation) in Hinduism or Nirvana in Buddhism.
Also Known As
Cycle of Rebirth Transmigration
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