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 C

Chushanrishathaim

Biblical
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

King of Mesopotamia who oppressed Israel before Othniel’s deliverance

Detailed Definition
Chushanrishathaim, whose name may mean “Cushan of double wickedness,” ruled Aram-Naharaim and subjugated Israel for eight years until Othniel, the first judge, liberated them (Judges 3). In poetry, he personifies foreign tyranny and the cyclical pattern of sin, oppression, and redemption that structures Israel’s early history.
Example
Example in poetry:
In John Milton’s "Paradise Lost," Chushanrishathaim (Judges 3) embodies oppressive foreign rule; In William Blake’s prophetic books, tyrants like Chushanrishathaim represent spiritual bondage; In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s "The Drama of Exile," Chushanrishathaim symbolizes the enemy of liberty; In George Herbert’s "The Church-porch," Chushanrishathaim’s defeat illustrates divine deliverance; In John Keble’s "Lyra Apostolica," Chushanrishathaim represents the wages of national sin; In Christina Rossetti’s "The World," Chushanrishathaim’s name evokes the memory of oppression.
Additional Notes
Chushanrishathaim: King of Aram-naharaim who oppressed Israel, defeated by Othniel (Judges 3:8–10). His name (“Cushan of double wickedness”) is likely a derogatory pun. In poetry, he symbolizes foreign oppression and the cyclical pattern of sin-judgment-deliverance in Judges. His obscurity makes him ideal for exploring the anonymity of tyranny or the poetic justice of naming oppressors as “doubly wicked.”
Also Known As
Chushan-rishathaim king of Aram Cushan-rishathaim
Skip to main content