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.

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


Compare Poets

Pick two poets who seem to have nothing to do with each other — a Gothic American and a pastoral Englishman, say — and see where the catalogue actually joins them: overlapping years, shared ground, distinctive themes, and the poems that secretly rhyme.

Poet A

John Freeman John Freeman

Poet B

Francis Ledwidge Francis Ledwidge
Compare two related contemporaries

A random pair who overlapped in time and whose poems already rhyme in the catalogue — a way into poets you may not have met.

Kindred spirits
Their work already rhymes in the catalogue. The rest of this page is the story around that rhyme.
Biography 75% Poems 83% Blended 78%
Swap sides Another related pair
John Freeman

John Freeman

29 January 1880 – 23 September 1929 (~49)
2 live poems · English

In the annals of early twentieth-century English poetry, few figures embodied such a striking duality as John Frederick Freeman. Born on January 29, 1880, in Dalston, Middlesex, into a Wesleyan Methodist family, Freeman would spend his days navigating the demanding world of commercial insurance while his nights belonged to verse. His life represents a compelling narrative of artistic dedication pursued alongside prof…

“I am tired and so, casting up my Sins, I remember I've not said a word (more than hasty saying) of thanks to you for your part in my Selected Poems.”

Neighbourhood: Edwardian Poets, Georgian Poets, Modernist Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Spirituality, Fear
Listen Timeline Affinities
Francis Ledwidge

Francis Ledwidge

19 August 1887 – 31 July 1917 (~30)
8 live poems · English

In the annals of Irish literature, few figures embody the tragic intersection of artistic promise and historical circumstance as poignantly as Francis Edward Ledwidge. Born into rural poverty in County Meath in 1887 and killed on a Belgian battlefield in 1917, Ledwidge's thirty years encompassed a meteoric rise from agricultural laborer to celebrated poet, a journey that mirrors the broader struggles of Ireland durin…

“I have taken up arms for the fields and rivers along the Boyne, for the birds and the blue sky over them.”

Neighbourhood: Death & Mortality, Georgian Poets, Irish Poets, War Poets
Emotional landscape: Tenderness, Longing, Wonder
Listen Timeline Affinities

In time

John Freeman
Francis Ledwidge
1880 1929
They overlapped for 31 years (1887–1917). When Francis Ledwidge was born, John Freeman was about 7. John Freeman was about 37 when Francis Ledwidge died.
John Freeman in history Francis Ledwidge in history Years they were given

On the map

About 498 km separate Dalston, Middlesex, England from Slane, County Meath, Ireland. Different countries, different weather — unless a poem carries one landscape into the other.

John Freeman

Francis Ledwidge

Open both on the History Atlas

Themes they return to

Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.

Shared

world landscape life

John Freeman only

earth trees stone fear storm light house builder heart warmth home love

Francis Ledwidge only

irish nature soldiers invitation sparrow bird gardener garden fire darkness flowers spiritual

From the biographies

John Freeman: dalston, scarlet fever, twentieth-century poetry, georgian poetry, stone trees, presage of victory, walter de la mare, edward marsh. Francis Ledwidge: county meath, slane, lord dunsany, thomas macdonagh, songs of the fields, songs of peace, irish cultural revival, gallipoli peninsula.

Poems that secretly rhyme

The closest poem-to-poem matches in critique space — the sort of kinship a listener hears before the catalogue admits it.

Stone Trees
John Freeman
74% world, landscape
Compare
An Invitation
Francis Ledwidge
Stone Trees
John Freeman
73% world
Compare
The Gardener
Francis Ledwidge
Stone Trees
John Freeman
72% world
Compare
The Sister
Francis Ledwidge
Stone Trees
John Freeman
72% world
Compare
To a Sparrow
Francis Ledwidge
Stone Trees
John Freeman
72% world
Compare
The Cobbler of Sari Gueul
Francis Ledwidge
Home for Love
John Freeman
71% life
Compare
The Cobbler of Sari Gueul
Francis Ledwidge

The world around them

While their lives overlapped

Notable events from the years they were both alive.

1891 Conversion to Roman Catholicism
1892 Opening of Ellis Island
1892 Valéry undergoes the Genoa crisis
1893 Co-founding of the Gaelic League
1893 Delivery of 'The Necessity for De-Anglicizing Ireland' Speech
1893 Publication of 'The Hound of Heaven'
1894 Death of Robert Louis Stevenson
1894 Valéry begins his lifelong notebooks

John Freeman

1893 Early Education and Work Experience of John Freeman
1910 Publication of 'The New Poetry'
1911 Friendship with Edward Thomas
1915 Publication of 'The Poet's Corner'
1916 Involvement with the Poetry Society
1920 Publication of 'The Unseen'
1921 Friendship with T. S. Eliot
1928 Final Publication: 'The Last Poems'

Francis Ledwidge

1900 Francis Ledwidge's Early Education and Literary Awakening
1911 Friendship with Lord Dunsany
1915 Publication of 'Songs of the Fields'
1916 Enlistment in the British Army
1916 Publication of 'Songs of Peace'
1917 Death in Battle
1919 Posthumous Recognition and Legacy

Emotional landscapes

John Freeman: Wonder, Spirituality, Fear. Francis Ledwidge: Tenderness, Longing, Wonder.

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