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 A

Abimelech

Biblical
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

Name shared by several biblical rulers, notably a Philistine king and a murderous son of Gideon

Detailed Definition
In Genesis, Abimelech was a Philistine king who interacted with Abraham and Isaac; in Judges, he was Gideon’s son who seized power through fratricide. Both figures embody flawed authority and divine judgment. Poets invoke Abimelech to explore themes of illegitimate power, deception, and the consequences of ambition unchecked by justice.
Example
Example in poetry:
In John Milton’s "Samson Agonistes," Abimelech’s violent end (Judges 9) is echoed in Samson’s own tragic strength; In William Blake’s "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," tyrants like Abimelech represent corrupt authority; In Alfred Tennyson’s "Idylls of the King," Abimelech’s fratricide parallels Arthurian betrayals; In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s "Casa Guidi Windows," despots like Abimelech symbolize political oppression; In George Herbert’s "The Church Militant," Abimelech’s downfall warns against pride and usurpation; In John Keble’s "Lyra Apostolica," Abimelech serves as a cautionary type of self-exaltation.
Additional Notes
Abimelech: Appears in multiple contexts—king of Gerar (Genesis 20), son of Gideon (Judges 9), and Philistine ruler (1 Samuel 21). The Judges version is especially poetic: a cautionary tale of ambition, fratricide, and poetic justice (the “thornbush king”). Poets may use Abimelech to explore tyranny, the corruption of power, or ironic downfall. The name itself (“my father is king”) invites wordplay on legitimacy and inheritance.
Also Known As
Abimelech king of Shechem Abimelech son of Gideon
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