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 L

Last but not least

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

An idiomatic phrase introducing final element while affirming its equal importance or significance; ordinal-paradox formulation used in poetry to structure enumeration, honor concluding item, or subvert hierarchical expectation through concessive-conjunction rhetoric emphasizing inclusive sequencing.

Detailed Definition
Last but not least means that the final person, item, or point mentioned remains important despite appearing last. In poetry, the idiom can structure lists, dedications, speeches, comic catalogues, or closing gestures. It creates emphasis by resisting the assumption that sequence equals value. A poet may use it to honour an overlooked figure, deliver a final argument, or add warmth to a concluding line. The phrase is useful for studying order, emphasis, and the rhetorical power of endings.
Example
Example in poetry:
Emphasis: "Last but not least, remember kindness costs nothing."; Highlight: "Last but not least, the quiet voices often speak loudest truths."; Educational: "Builds to important conclusions in list poems."; "Last but not least, gratitude transforms everything."
Additional Notes
An idiomatic phrase used to emphasize a final, often most important item in a list or catalog poem. Its formulaic nature signals structural culmination. Useful for teaching how catalog poems build toward a climax. Contrasts with anti-climactic list endings. Learners should practice drafting catalog poems that earn the "last but not least" moment by ensuring the final item is genuinely the most significant.
Also Known As
Last but by no means least And finally Saving the best for last
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