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 B

bale

Archaic Terms
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

Bale refers to a state of misery or sorrow, often associated with suffering or affliction.

Detailed Definition
In poetry, particularly in archaic contexts, "bale" signifies deep sorrow or distress. It conveys a sense of emotional pain and is often used to describe the burdensome aspects of life, such as guilt or despair. In Robert Southwell's poem "Loves Garden Grief," the term is employed to illustrate the negative qualities of love, where "bark is bale" suggests that the very essence of love can be a source of anguish and torment, reinforcing the poem's themes of grief and moral decay.
Example
Example in poetry:
In "Loves Garden Grief," Southwell writes, "Whose barke is bale, whose tymber stubborne fantasyes." Here, "bale" is used to describe the bark of a tree, symbolizing how love can be a painful and burdensome experience, contributing to the overall theme of suffering in the poem.
Additional Notes
The term "bale" is derived from Old English and has roots in the concept of suffering or evil. It is often found in older literary works, making it less common in contemporary poetry. Related terms include "bane," which also signifies harm or ruin. When using "bale," poets can evoke a strong emotional response, but modern readers may need context to fully grasp its archaic connotation.
Other Meanings of “bale”
Also Known As
Woe Sorrow Calamity Grief
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