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

Lay low

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

Lay low means to hide, remain inconspicuous, or avoid attention; in literary contexts, it conveys strategic withdrawal, secrecy, or survival instincts, often associated with characters seeking refuge from danger, scrutiny, or social pressure.

Detailed Definition
Lay low means to bring down, defeat, kill, or humble someone, though it is often confused with “lie low”, meaning to hide or avoid notice. In poetry, “lay low” can be powerful in contexts of battle, illness, grief, scandal, or moral collapse. The phrase suggests a force that reduces height, pride, or life to the ground. It can describe enemies struck down, hopes destroyed, or arrogance humbled. Students should distinguish it from “lie low”, since the two create different meanings.
Example
Example in poetry:
A ballad might tell the outlaw to lay low until the moon leaves the valley; In a political poem, a conspirator lays low while the city searches for names; The phrase lay low means to keep out of sight or avoid attention; A poet can use it for danger, secrecy, or shame.
Additional Notes
Lay low is often used to mean hide, avoid attention, or remain quiet, though traditionally lay low can also mean strike down. In modern idiomatic use, context usually clarifies the meaning. In poetry, it can suggest secrecy, shame, survival, crime, illness, or strategic silence. Students may compare it with lie low, which more standardly means stay hidden. The phrase pairs well with shadows, grass, burrows, and lowered voices.
Also Known As
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