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

Fortified

Viniculture
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

Fortified describes wines with added grape spirit, increasing alcohol and sweetness, including Port, Sherry, and Madeira.

Detailed Definition
Fortified’s poetic resonance is strength and preservation—it is wine that has been strengthened for sea voyages and long cellaring. Poets use fortified to discuss endurance, the addition of something extra to ensure survival. Its higher alcohol warms from within, a figure for inner fire. Fortified wines often have rich, complex flavors developed through oxidative aging, mirroring the layered complexity of a seasoned soul. In verses about adventurers and explorers, fortified wines are the stored energy, the concentrated essence of distant vineyards.
Example
Example in poetry:
Fortified|"Fortified wine, strengthened by the addition of grape spirit, is a wine of endurance, a poem of preservation."; "The poet sees fortified wine as a symbol of survival, its higher alcohol a protection against the ravages of travel and time."; "Fortified wines like Port, Sherry, and Madeira are the poets of the wine world, their complex flavors a result of a long, eventful journey."; "The poet uses fortified to discuss the idea of enhancement, of adding something to make it last."; "Fortified wines are often sweet and rich, a comfort against the cold, a subject for poems of warmth and solace."; "The poet compares the fortification of wine to the strengthening of a poem through revision, adding layers of meaning and resilience."
Additional Notes
Fortified wines have had grape spirit added during or after fermentation, increasing alcohol content and often preserving residual sugar, which results in a range of styles from the bone-dry Fino sherry to the luscious, sweet Port. This process of fortification has historical significance, as it allowed wines to survive long sea voyages, making it a symbol of exploration, endurance, and trade. Poets can use fortified wines to discuss themes of preservation, strength, and the addition of something external to make a creation last. Students should note that the fortification process is intimately tied to the history of Empire, as British merchants developed Port and Sherry to withstand the journey from Iberia. Related terms include Port, Sherry, and Madeira.
Also Known As
Fortified wine armèd Armed
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