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

Hilaria

Historical Festival
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

Roman festival of Cybele and Attis, marked by joy after days of mourning for Attis’s death

Detailed Definition
Hilaria was the joyful climax of the Cybele-Attis cycle (March 25), celebrating Attis’s resurrection with masquerades, feasting, and unrestrained mirth. It followed days of grief and self-flagellation. In poetry, Hilaria symbolizes ecstatic release, rebirth, and the triumph of life over death—appearing in late antique and Renaissance verse as a metaphor for spiritual renewal, theatricality, and the paradox of sacred joy emerging from sorrow.
Example
Example in poetry:
Catullus 63 describes Hilaria’s ecstatic joy after Attis’s resurrection; In late antique poetry, Hilaria symbolizes triumph over grief and sacred theater; Later poets reference Hilaria to explore the paradox of joy born from sorrow; Contemporary verse uses Hilaria to examine ritualized release and masquerade; Historical poetry reconstructs Hilaria to honor Cybele’s mystery cult; Poets evoke Hilaria to frame celebration as necessary counterweight to mourning.
Additional Notes
Hilaria (Mar 25) celebrated Attis’s resurrection with masquerades and unrestrained joy after days of mourning. In poetry, it symbolizes ecstatic release and rebirth. For students, it shows how sorrow transforms into celebration. Poets can use it to explore spiritual renewal, theatricality, and the paradox of sacred joy.
Also Known As
Hilaria Festival Hilaria Cybeles
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