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

Soul

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 spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal and the center of consciousness, emotion, and will.

Detailed Definition
The concept of the soul (Atman in Hinduism, Nefesh/Ruach in Judaism, Psyche in Greek thought) is central to understanding the human relationship to the divine. It is the essence of a person, the bearer of moral quality, and the part that seeks union with God or liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Poetry is the natural language of the soul, giving voice to its deepest longings, struggles, joys, and its quest for identity, meaning, and eternal life. The soul is both the subject and the audience of much religious verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Hebrew poetry, Soul (nephesh) is whole being: “Thirsty soul—Soul that hungers for justice”; In Hindu verse, Soul (atman) is eternal: “Tat tvam asi—Soul, you are That”; In contemporary poetry, Soul is essence: “Not résumé—Soul, the quiet hum beneath noise”; Poets link Soul to action: “Starve the body—Soul fed by kindness.”
Additional Notes
Soul (nephesh in Hebrew, psyche in Greek, atman in Sanskrit) varies by tradition: mortal life-force, immortal essence, or illusion to be seen through; in poetry, soul often signifies the innermost self—yearning, wounded, or luminous—and serves as the site where divine and human meet in dialogue, struggle, or embrace.
Other Meanings of “Soul”
Also Known As
Nephesh Atman Psyche Ruh The Spirit Spirit
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