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

Cuckoo

Birds
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 migratory bird known for laying eggs in other birds’ nests and its distinctive call.

Detailed Definition
The cuckoo’s call heralds spring in European poetry, symbolizing renewal, but its parasitic breeding evokes themes of deception, infidelity, or displacement. From Chaucer to modern verse, it appears as both a joyful herald and a trickster figure. Its dual nature allows poets to explore the ambiguity of time, trust, and natural cycles, often reflecting on human folly through the bird’s seemingly innocent yet disruptive presence.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Chaucer’s “The Cuckoo and Nightingale,” the cuckoo represents fickle love and betrayal; Shakespeare’s “cuckoo-buds of April” tie the bird to seasonal change and deception; The cuckoo’s call in Wordsworth’s poetry heralds spring but hints at hidden infidelity; Modern poets use the cuckoo to explore displacement, as in refugee narratives; Its parasitic nesting becomes a metaphor for cultural intrusion or lost authenticity.
Additional Notes
The cuckoo is renowned for its parasitic nesting (laying eggs in other birds’ nests) and its two-note call that heralds spring in Europe. In poetry, it embodies duality: joyful harbinger of renewal and symbol of betrayal, infidelity, or displacement. Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Wordsworth all used it to explore trust and seasonal cycles. Its call’s onomatopoeic quality (“cuck-oo”) makes it ideal for sound-based verse. Related terms: “brood parasite,” “migratory omen,” “voice of spring.” Note that in some cultures (e.g., Japan), the cuckoo (hototogisu) symbolizes longing and poetic inspiration.
Also Known As
Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus Cuckoo Bird Brood Parasite cuccu
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