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

belt

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 flexible band worn around the waist to hold up trousers or as an accessory, appearing in poetry as a symbol of restraint, support, and the cinching of identity.

Detailed Definition
The belt is one of the most functional garments, yet its poetic associations are rich and varied. It can represent the "binding" of a community or the tightening of discipline—a character with a tightly cinched belt is prepared, controlled, perhaps even repressed. Conversely, a loosened belt signals relaxation, satiety, or vulnerability. In military and adventure poetry, the belt carries weapons or tools, making it a sign of readiness. In love poetry, unbuckling a belt can be the first step toward intimacy, its leather or cloth a tactile element of the body. The belt also appears in coming-of-age poems, where a new belt signifies a move from childhood to adulthood, or an old, worn belt stands for the wear and tear of a long life.
Example
Example in poetry:
"For it was: -- 'Belts, belts, belts, an' that's one for you!'" (Rudyard Kipling, "Belts"); "His belt where she'd chewed it was like chewed bread" (Shenandoah Literary, "The Belt"); "We passed the time o' day, an' then the belts went whirraru!" (Kipling); "The belt of Orion across the winter sky cinched the heavens"; "She loosened her belt and let the evening fall around her"; "A leather belt, worn smooth as a river stone, held his stories in"
Additional Notes
The belt is one of the most functional garments in the poetic lexicon, yet its symbolic range is remarkably broad. It can represent restraint, discipline, and the "binding" of community or identity. A tightly cinched belt suggests preparedness, control, or repression, while a loosened one signals relaxation, satiety, or vulnerability. In military and adventure poetry, the belt carries weapons or tools, making it a sign of readiness and martial virtue. The belt appears frequently in biblical and devotional poetry as a symbol of truth or the girding of loins for action. In love poetry, unbuckling a belt can be a charged moment of intimacy or surrender. The belt also functions in coming-of-age narratives, where a new belt marks a transition to adulthood. Students should note the belt's dual nature as both a practical item and a powerful metaphor. Related terms include sash, cummerbund, and cincture, each with slightly different poetic connotations. The belt's material—leather, cloth, or metal—can further refine its meaning in verse.
Also Known As
girdle waistband cincture
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