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

Athenian Skira

Historical Festival
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

Athenian midsummer rites associated with Athena Skiras, Demeter, and agricultural protection.

Detailed Definition
The Skira was a midsummer Athenian festival marked by a procession from the Acropolis toward the coastal sanctuary of Athena Skiras. A large white canopy or parasol was carried above ritual participants, creating a striking image of shade, separation, and sacred travel. The festival also involved figures connected with Demeter and agricultural fertility, though its precise rites remain uncertain. In verse, the white covering can signify protection from the sun, concealment, or a city moving beneath a fragile sky.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet may place the Athenian Skira beneath a white canopy carried in procession; “Under the Skira’s white shelter, the women cross the sunlit road”; The festival can symbolize protection sought from heat, drought, or social disorder; “The shade of Skira gathers women, priestesses, and hopes for the harvest”; A poem may use the Skira as a setting for female ritual and the renewal of civic life
Additional Notes
The Skira was a midsummer festival linked with Athena Skiras and, in related rites, Demeter and agricultural fertility. Its processions and protective symbolism reflect concern for crops, seasonal hardship, and the sacred landscape of Attica.
Also Known As
Skira Skirophoria
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