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

Surah

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

A chapter of the Quran, varying in length and theme, each beginning with the Bismillah (except Surah At-Tawbah) and arranged non-chronologically.

Detailed Definition
The Quran contains 114 surahs, revealed over 23 years, covering law, narrative, theology, and eschatology. In poetry, surahs provide structure, allusion, and spiritual depth. Poets reference famous surahs (e.g., Al-Fatihah as the “essence,” Yasin as the “heart”) to evoke specific moods—mercy, warning, or cosmic awe. The surah’s form also influences poetic composition, with refrains and cadences mirroring Quranic rhythms.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Quranic poem: “Each sūrah is a garden—some vast like Baqarah, some fragrant like Ikhlāṣ”; In a modern verse, “Reciting Yāsīn at dawn, the sūrah becomes my companion”; A minimalist lyric: “Sūrah: revelation in chapters”; A diasporic reflection: “In English, I understand meaning—in Arabic, I feel melody.”
Additional Notes
A Surah is a chapter of the Quran. There are 114 surahs of varying length, each dealing with multiple themes. Each surah (except the ninth) begins with the Basmala: "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." Surahs are classified as Meccan (revealed before the Hijra, focusing on theology and morality) or Medinan (revealed after, focusing on law and community). For poets, the structure, rhythm, and powerful language of the surahs have inspired centuries of Islamic calligraphy, poetry, and art.
Also Known As
Sura Chapter
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