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 F

Falias

Mythology
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

One of the four legendary cities of the Tuatha Dé Danann, said to have gifted the Stone of Fál to Ireland

Detailed Definition
Falias is among the four mythical cities—alongside Gorias, Finias, and Murias—from which the Tuatha Dé Danann brought their sacred treasures to Ireland. From Falias came the Stone of Fál (Lia Fáil), which would cry out under the true king’s feet, symbolizing sovereignty and rightful rule. In poetry, Falias evokes themes of legitimacy, destiny, and the mystical bond between land and ruler, often serving as a metaphor for national identity and divine sanction in Celtic literary traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
W.B. Yeats references the Stone of Fál in "The Song of the Happy Shepherd" to symbolize lost sovereignty and the poet’s yearning for a mythic Irish past; In contemporary poetry, Falias might be invoked to explore the legitimacy of leadership in postcolonial contexts; A poet could contrast the silent modern Lia Fáil with its legendary cry to mourn political disillusionment; Seamus Heaney alludes to the Stone of Fál in "The Tollund Man" as a subtle link between ancient ritual and national identity; Falias appears in modern Celtic revival poetry as a metonym for Ireland’s mythic origins and spiritual center; A student poem might describe Falias as “the city whose stone knew the king’s true name,” blending myth with lyrical introspection.
Additional Notes
Falias is one of the four mystical cities—alongside Gorias, Finias, and Murias—said to have educated and equipped the Tuatha Dé Danann before their arrival in Ireland. Its primary gift, the Stone of Fál (Lia Fáil), was not merely a coronation stone but a symbol of sovereignty that would cry out under the feet of the rightful High King, linking rightful rule to sacred geography. In poetic usage, Falias often represents legitimacy, national identity, and the mystical bond between land and leader. Poets may invoke it to critique contemporary leadership or to evoke a mythic golden age. Related concepts include “sacred kingship,” the Hill of Tara (where the stone was traditionally placed), and the Celtic notion of fír flathemon (the ruler’s truth), which ties just rule to prosperity.
Also Known As
City of the Stone Fál’s Origin Falias of the Lia Fáil Haven of Sovereignty
Skip to main content