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

lead

Nautical
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

A weighted line with marks, cast overboard to measure water depth.

Detailed Definition
The lead line, or sounding line, is a tool of caution and knowledge, used to probe the unseen depths beneath the keel. In poetry, it symbolizes inquiry, prudence, and the attempt to fathom the unknown—whether it be the ocean floor, the human heart, or the divine will. The act of heaving the lead and calling out the depth becomes a ritual of vigilance, a dialogue between the surface and the abyss. Poets invoke it to suggest that we must sound our own depths before proceeding, and its marked intervals (by fathoms) remind us that even the invisible can be measured and named.
Example
Example in poetry:
The lead line in poetry symbolizes inquiry, prudence, and the attempt to fathom the unknown—whether ocean floor, human heart, or divine will.; The act of heaving the lead and calling out the depth becomes a ritual of vigilance.; Poets invoke the lead to suggest that we must sound our own depths before proceeding.; Its marked intervals (by fathoms) remind us that even the invisible can be measured and named.; The lead is a tool of caution and knowledge, used to probe unseen depths.; The lead line’s weighted end touches the bottom, bringing hidden truths to light.
Additional Notes
The lead is a weighted line used to measure the depth of water, a "sounding" line. In poetry, it symbolizes inquiry, prudence, and the act of probing the unknown—whether the ocean floor, the human heart, or the divine will. The ritual of heaving the lead and calling out the depth becomes a metaphor for vigilance and careful judgment. Poets use it to suggest that we must "sound" our own depths before proceeding in any endeavor. Its marked intervals (in fathoms) remind us that even the invisible can, with the right tool, be measured and known. The lead is a tool of caution, knowledge, and the relentless human desire to understand what lies beneath the surface.
Also Known As
Sounding lead lead line depth line Call the tune conduck
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