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

alb

Apparel
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 long white linen vestment worn by clergy at the Eucharist, covering the body from neck to feet, symbolizing purity and the garment of baptism in liturgical poetry.

Detailed Definition
The alb derives its poetic resonance from its stark whiteness and its association with the most sacred moments of Christian worship. When mentioned in devotional verse, it often appears at the climax of the mass, catching candlelight or the slanting rays of stained glass. Its linen material connects it to the natural world—flax grown in fields, woven by hand—and thus grounds spiritual transcendence in the labor of human hands. Poets contrast the alb's unsullied surface with the stain of sin, making it a potent image for purification and the hope of redemption. In Easter and baptismal hymns, the alb is frequently invoked as the "white robe" of the newly baptized, tying individual souls to the broader communion of saints. Its simple, unadorned form also allows poets to focus on the action of the priest rather than the ornament.
Example
Example in poetry:
"The priest in white alb and embroidered stole approached the altar" (liturgical poetry); "Her alb caught the candlelight like snow on a stained-glass window"; "He donned the alb of innocence, a garment washed in faith"; "The alb's linen folds whispered of centuries of whispered prayers"; "In the Easter vigil, the new alb gleamed like the stone rolled away"; "The alb, simple and unadorned, spoke more of devotion than any jeweled cope"
Additional Notes
The alb derives from the Latin "albus" meaning white, and its poetic power lies in this stark color symbolism. Unlike other liturgical garments that may be ornate, the alb's simplicity makes it a vehicle for themes of purity, innocence, and the stripping away of worldly adornment. In devotional poetry, the alb often appears at climactic liturgical moments, catching candlelight or stained-glass radiance. Poets use it to contrast the stain of sin with the hope of redemption. The alb is frequently mentioned alongside the stole, chasuble, or cincture, and its white linen connects it to the natural world of flax and human labor. When writing about the alb, consider its rustling sound and the way its fabric moves with the priest's gestures. It appears most often in Easter, baptismal, and ordination poetry, where its unsullied surface becomes a metaphor for the soul's cleansing. Modern poets sometimes use the alb to comment on institutional religion, but its primary resonance remains one of transcendent purity and the sacramental presence of the divine in the everyday.
Also Known As
priestly robe white vestment liturgical tunic
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