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

Buckthorn

Flora
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 thorny shrub or small tree with small flowers and black berries, often found in hedgerows and thickets.

Detailed Definition
Buckthorn appears in poetry as a symbol of protection, boundaries, and sometimes harshness. Its thorns and dense growth make it represent barriers and defensive positions. The plant's berries, once used medicinally as purgatives, add associations with cleansing and sometimes punishment. In landscape poetry, buckthorn contributes to the character of wild, untamed places. Its presence in hedgerows makes it a marker of boundaries between cultivated and wild land, order and chaos.
Example
Example in poetry:
Buckthorn's sharp thorns and cathartic berries represent protection combined with purgative or cleansing qualities; In folklore-influenced poetry, buckthorn planted near homes provides magical protection; The plant's dark berries used in traditional dyes connect it to poems about craft and color; Sea buckthorn's bright orange berries and silvery leaves create striking coastal imagery; The shrub's ability to fix nitrogen and improve soil appears in ecological poetry about natural restoration; Buckthorn as an invasive species in North America provides subject matter for environmental poetry about displacement
Additional Notes
Buckthorn, a thorny hedgerow plant, suggests boundary and defence. In ecological discussions it is sometimes invasive, which may add nuance in modern environmental poetry. Its dark berries and sharp branches suit imagery of austerity or marginal spaces.
Also Known As
Common Buckthorn Alder Buckthorn
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