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.

After the death of my mother, 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.

My wife and I are simplifying our days. The server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit the quieter life we want.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the 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.

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

festina lente

Latin Phrases
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

Make haste slowly; paradoxical advice to proceed with both speed and caution, balancing urgency with care.

Detailed Definition
Festina lente, "make haste slowly," offers paradoxical wisdom to proceed with both speed and caution. In poetry, this phrase captures the need for balanced approach, neither reckless rush nor paralyzing hesitation. Poets invoke it when advising moderation, when recognizing that speed and care aren't opposites but must be combined. The phrase suggests that effectiveness requires both urgency and patience, that proper action attends to both timing and quality. It appears in didactic verse and poems about craft, where speakers recognize that some processes—including poetic composition—require not hurrying yet not delaying, that maturity means knowing when to press and when to wait, balancing opposing imperatives simultaneously.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem about craft invokes "festina lente—make haste slowly, balancing speed with care"; Contemporary verse uses it as advice: "Festina lente: urgent patience"; A poem about composition employs the phrase: "Festina lente guides revision—neither rushing nor delaying"; Verse about balance uses "festina lente" as paradoxical wisdom; A metapoetic reflection might note "Festina lente describes poetic making"; Poets teaching craft advise "festina lente: proceed with both urgency and caution"
Additional Notes
Festina lente offers paradoxical wisdom to proceed with both speed and caution. Augustus Caesar used the phrase as motto, captured in emblems showing dolphin and anchor (swift and stable). The advice balances competing imperatives: urgency and patience, speed and care. Poets invoke festina lente when addressing craft, when recognizing that some processes require neither rushing nor delaying. Related to the general difficulty of balancing opposites, of holding tension between contradictory demands. Useful for understanding poems about composition, creative process, and the development that requires both pressing forward and waiting. The phrase suggests maturity means knowing when to hurry and when to pause, that effectiveness comes through simultaneous attention to speed and quality. Contemporary poets cite festina lente when teaching craft, when advising that good poetry requires both productive urgency and patient revision, neither paralytic perfectionism nor hasty completion.
Also Known As
make haste slowly
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