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 H

Hestia

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 Greek goddess of the hearth, home, and sacred fire, symbolizing domestic harmony and communal unity.

Detailed Definition
Hestia is the virgin goddess of the hearth, representing domestic harmony, family, and the communal fire at the center of home and city. Though she appears infrequently in myths, she was honored in every Greek household and public space. Poets reference Hestia to evoke themes of sanctuary, continuity, and spiritual warmth—her quiet presence symbolizes the enduring values of community, piety, and inner peace amid chaos.
Example
Example in poetry:
In the Homeric Hymn to Hestia, “Hestia, you who dwell in the high house of Apollo”; Hesiod honors Hestia as “first and last among the gods”; In Roman poetry, Vesta (Hestia’s counterpart) guards the sacred flame of Rome; Emily Dickinson writes of “the Hearth— / The only Home we know”; Hestia appears in domestic verse as a symbol of quiet constancy and spiritual center; Modern poets invoke Hestia to represent sanctuary, memory, and inner stillness.
Additional Notes
Hestia (Greek) or Vesta (Roman) is virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and sacred fire; in Rome, Vesta was central to state religion, tended by Vestal Virgins; symbolizes domestic stability, piety, and the heart of community; appears in Homeric Hymns and Roman hymns; useful for themes of sanctuary, purity, or civic duty; students should note that Hestia/Vesta is often “present but silent” in myths—her power is foundational yet unobtrusive; her fire’s extinction was an omen of disaster.
Also Known As
Vesta Hearth Goddess Keeper of the Flame Virgin of the Sacred Fire
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