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

Ask

Mythology
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 first man in Norse mythology, created from an ash tree by Odin and his brothers; in poetry, he symbolizes primal humanity, connection to nature, and the beginning of mortal consciousness.

Detailed Definition
Ask, along with Embla (the first woman), was fashioned by Odin, Vili, and Vé from driftwood—Ask from an ash tree—giving humanity form, breath, and intelligence. In poetry, Ask represents the sacred origin of humankind and the deep connection between humans and Yggdrasil, the World Tree, often used to explore themes of creation and mortality.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ask, the first man, shaped from an ash tree by Odin and his brothers; In Völuspá, Ask and Embla are given breath, wit, and warmth; Poets use “son of Ask” as a kenning for humanity; The ash tree symbolizes resilience and sacred origin in Norse cosmology; Ask’s creation parallels Yggdrasil, linking mankind to the world tree; Modern eco-poetry draws on Ask to reflect on human connection to nature.
Additional Notes
Ask, the first man, was shaped from an ash tree by Odin, Vili, and Vé, while Embla (the first woman) was made from an elm or vine; the ash tree’s sacred status—linked to Yggdrasil, the World Tree—imbues Ask with cosmic significance, and poets may draw on this origin myth to explore themes of creation, humanity’s connection to nature, or divine craftsmanship.
Also Known As
Askur
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