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.

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 H

Hau

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

The personification of wind, breath, and the life force carried on the air.

Detailed Definition
Hau represents both the physical wind and the metaphysical essence of life and communication. In ritual, hau refers to the vital force exchanged in gifts and relationships. As a mythic figure, Hau connects the spiritual and material realms through movement and breath. Poets use Hau to convey emotion, the unseen presence of ancestors, and the animating spirit within nature and human interaction.
Example
Example in poetry:
Hau, the life-giving breath or wind, is central to poetic expressions of vitality and spirit; In traditional chants, hau represents the breath of Papatūānuku that sustains all living things—poets echo this to affirm interconnectedness; Modern poets use hau as a metaphor for inspiration, the unseen force that moves words and emotions; Hau is contrasted with mate (death) in elegiac poetry to emphasize the fleeting nature of life; Some poets personify hau as a messenger carrying karakia across mountains and rivers; In environmental verse, hau symbolizes clean air and the urgency of protecting atmospheric purity.
Additional Notes
Hau has multiple meanings in te reo Māori: it can mean wind, breath, or the vital life force that animates all beings. In philosophical contexts, hau is central to the concept of reciprocity—especially in the hau of a gift, as described in Māori gift economies (e.g., the hau of taonga). In poetry, hau evokes both physical breath and spiritual essence. It connects to atua like Tāne (who breathed life into Hine-ahu-one) and to Papatūānuku’s living breath. Poets can use hau to explore themes of inspiration, mortality, environmental health (e.g., clean air), or the unseen currents that bind people and land. Avoid reducing it to mere “wind”—its metaphysical dimension is profound.
Also Known As
wind spirit breath deity life force
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