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

dean of guild

Historical Office
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 civic official in Scottish burghs who presided over guild courts and trade regulations

Detailed Definition
The dean of guild appears in poetry as a symbol of urban governance and mercantile order. Historically ensuring building standards and trade fairness, they blended civic and commercial roles. In Scottish verse, they evoke local pride, regulation, and the intersection of craft and law. Their inclusion reflects the importance of guild structures in shaping community identity and economic life in historic towns.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Scottish civic verse, the dean of guild oversees trade standards and building codes; Robert Burns references the dean of guild in satirical poems on burgh politics; Victorian poets depict the dean of guild swearing oaths to uphold merchant rights; The dean of guild appears in Edinburgh foundation poems as a civic pillar; In guild procession odes, the dean carries the ceremonial mace; Their role is contrasted with modern bureaucracy in nostalgic verse.
Additional Notes
The Dean of Guild was a uniquely Scottish civic office, overseeing building standards, trade disputes, and burgh courts—this role highlights Scotland’s distinct urban governance; poets referencing it may signal local identity, mercantile regulation, or the fusion of craft and law in Scottish burgh life, especially in 17th–18th century civic verse.
Also Known As
deacon of guild
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