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 D

Damaris

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

An Athenian woman converted by Paul during his sermon at the Areopagus, mentioned in Acts as an early Christian follower—rarely referenced in poetry.

Detailed Definition
Damaris is mentioned in Acts 17:34 as one of the few who responded to Paul’s philosophical address in Athens. Little else is known, but her inclusion highlights women’s early roles in the church. In poetry, Damaris represents intellectual openness to divine truth, the quiet receptivity that counters cultural skepticism, and the dignity of women in spiritual awakening.
Example
Example in poetry:
In John Milton’s "Paradise Lost," Damaris’s conversion (Acts 17) illustrates the gospel’s reach to Athenian women; In George Herbert’s "The Church-porch," Damaris models intellectual receptivity to faith; In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s "The Seraphim," Damaris symbolizes the philosopher turned believer; In John Keble’s "Lyra Apostolica," Damaris represents the dignity of female converts; In Christina Rossetti’s devotional verse, Damaris’s name evokes the communion of saints; In T.S. Eliot’s "Four Quartets," Damaris’s Athens becomes a site of divine encounter.
Additional Notes
Damaris: Athenian woman converted by Paul (Acts 17:34); one of few named female converts in Europe. In poetry, Damaris symbolizes intellectual receptivity (Athens as center of philosophy), the quiet inclusion of women in early mission, and the seed of faith in skeptical soil. Her name evokes dignity—ideal for poems on reason and faith, or the first fruits of the gospel in the West.
Also Known As
Damaris of Athens
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