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

Do or die

Idiomatic Phrase
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

Do or die: a critical moment demanding decisive action regardless of consequences; the stark binary of survival or death gives this phrase its urgent, all-or-nothing dramatic force.

Detailed Definition
Do or die means a situation of absolute urgency in which one must succeed or face serious loss, ruin, or death. In poetry, it heightens moments of crisis: battle, escape, love confession, political resistance, illness, artistic trial, or moral decision. The phrase has a compressed, rhythmic force that suits dramatic turning points. It can sound heroic, reckless, desperate, or melodramatic. Poets may use it to show how extreme circumstances strip away hesitation and reveal character under pressure.
Example
Example in poetry:
A battle poem might make the crossing of the bridge a do or die moment; In a love poem, confession can feel do or die to the trembling speaker; The phrase suits high-stakes decisions and irreversible action; A poet could use it to intensify a turning point.
Additional Notes
Do or die marks an urgent moment in which decisive action is required. In poetry it can heighten drama in battle, sport, love, migration, protest, illness, or moral crisis. The phrase is blunt and binary, reducing complexity to survival or failure. A poet may use it sincerely for heroic tension or ironically to mock melodramatic self-importance.
Also Known As
all or nothing
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