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 G

ghost gum

Archaic Terms
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 distinctive eucalyptus tree native to Australia, characterized by its smooth, pale, almost ghostly white bark that sheds in patches; visually striking, often used to represent the Australian outback.

Detailed Definition
Ghost gums appear in poetry as haunting, luminous presences within the landscape. Their visual distinctiveness lends itself to themes of mystery, solitude, and spiritual presence, enriching atmospheric description.
Example
Example in poetry:
A ghost gum glowed pale against the dark hills; The ghost gum haunted the plain with silver light; Beneath a ghost gum, silence thickened; The poet likened grief to a ghost gum at dusk; Moonlight clung to the ghost gum’s bark
Additional Notes
Ghost gums are visually striking trees that poets often associate with silence, spirituality, or haunting beauty. Their pale bark reflects moonlight, making them ideal for nocturnal or introspective imagery. In poetry, the ghost gum can suggest presence without speech, or memory etched into the land. Students should note how colour and light play a role in the term’s effectiveness, transforming a botanical reference into an atmospheric symbol.
Also Known As
White Gum Pale Gum
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