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

Sirah

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 Arabic term for the prophetic biography of Muhammad, encompassing his life story, teachings, and historical context, vital for understanding Islamic tradition.

Detailed Definition
Sirah literature blends history, theology, and moral exemplar, shaping Muslim identity and piety. It complements the Quran and Hadith. In poetry, Sirah provides rich narrative material—birth under stars, first revelation in Hira, migration, battles, and farewell. Poets use these moments to humanize the Prophet while exalting his role as mercy to the worlds (rahmatan lil-‘alamin), often blending reverence with lyrical intimacy.
Example
Example in poetry:
Note: “Sirah” is an alternate spelling of “Sīra”; examples are identical to ID 17869: A historical poem: “The Sirah is Ibn Ishaq’s tapestry—woven with battle, mercy, and moonlit revelations”; In a modern verse, “Reading the Sirah, I meet Muhammad not as icon, but as man who wept for orphans”; A minimalist reflection: “Sirah: biography as bridge”; A student’s note: “Sirah humanizes the Prophet—makes his sunnah feel attainable.”
Additional Notes
Sirah is the Arabic term for the prophetic biography, synonymous with "Sira." Using the term "Sirah" emphasizes the native Arabic context of the genre. Studying the Sirah is essential for understanding the Quran, as it reveals the circumstances of revelation (Asbab al-Nuzul). For literary studies, the Sirah is a foundational text of Islamic civilization, offering archetypes of leadership, faith, and community building that have inspired immense amounts of poetry and literature across the Muslim world.
Also Known As
As-Sirah The Biography Prophetic Biography
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