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

Have an axe to grind

Idiomatic Phrase
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

To have a personal grievance or hidden agenda motivating one’s actions or words.

Detailed Definition
Attributed to Benjamin Franklin’s parable of a man borrowing a grindstone to sharpen his axe covertly. In poetry, it reveals ulterior motives—political, romantic, or ideological. Satirists expose hypocrisy; dramatic monologues confess vendettas. The tool metaphor implies preparation for conflict, linking speech to weaponized intent. Poets use it to explore trust erosion, where every word carries concealed weight. Its folksy origin masks psychological complexity, making it effective in narrative poems dissecting manipulation or the blurred line between justice and revenge.
Example
Example in poetry:
Political satire: “He claims public good, but has an axe to grind with the mayor”; In literary feud: “Her review praises form but has an axe to grind about plagiarism”; Family drama: “Uncle’s will reading—everyone has an axe to grind over Grandpa’s land”; Historical reflection: “Pamphleteers had axes to grind beneath calls for liberty”.
Additional Notes
Attributed to Benjamin Franklin’s parable of a man borrowing a grindstone to sharpen his axe covertly. In poetry, it reveals ulterior motives—political, romantic, or ideological. Satirists expose hypocrisy; dramatic monologues confess vendettas. The tool metaphor implies preparation for conflict, linking speech to weaponized intent. Students can analyze how poets explore trust erosion, where every word carries concealed weight, making it effective in narrative poems dissecting manipulation or the blurred line between justice and revenge.
Also Known As
Have a personal grievance Bear a grudge Have A Bone To Pick
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