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

Long shot

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

Long shot describes an unlikely chance of success or improbable outcome; thematically, it highlights hope against odds, risk-taking, or desperation, often framing underdog narratives or ambitious, uncertain ventures.

Detailed Definition
Long shot means an attempt, hope, or possibility with little chance of success. In poetry, it is useful for improbable love, political change, rescue, ambition, prayer, or survival. The idiom carries risk and distance: the goal is visible, but difficult to reach. It may express realism without extinguishing hope. A poet can use it to dramatise human willingness to try even when odds are poor. The phrase can be poignant when the long shot is the only hope left.
Example
Example in poetry:
A love poem might admit that reunion is a long shot, yet the heart still wagers on the dawn; In a racing poem, the long shot surprises the crowd and wins by a nose; The phrase means something unlikely to succeed; A poet can use it to express hope against odds.
Additional Notes
A long shot is an unlikely chance of success, from shooting, betting, or sport. In poetry, it can describe improbable love, social mobility, rescue, artistic fame, political change, or prayer. The phrase carries both realism and hope: success is doubtful, but not impossible. Students should notice its spatial imagination, where distance makes accuracy difficult. It pairs well with horizons, arrows, odds, wagers, and distant lights.
Also Known As
Dark horse
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