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 M

Marathon

Historical Location
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 plain in Attica where Athens defeated a Persian army in 490 BCE.

Detailed Definition
Marathon is remembered for the Athenian victory that helped preserve the independence of the Greek city-states and later inspired the famous long-distance race. The battlefield lies between mountains and sea, giving the name a vivid physical setting for speed, endurance, and mortal courage. In poetry, Marathon may evoke a messenger’s breath, democratic resistance, or the brief instant when history is decided by exhausted bodies.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem may invoke Marathon to represent endurance over distance; “From Marathon to the sea” can recall the ancient Greek battle and the tradition of the long-distance messenger; A modern poet might use Marathon to describe an exhausting political or emotional struggle; The name can create heroic irony when the speaker celebrates a small personal victory.
Additional Notes
Marathon recalls the Athenian victory over Persia in 490 BCE and the legendary run carrying news of that victory to Athens. The term can therefore suggest sacrifice, endurance, speed, civic duty, and triumph against overwhelming odds. It also gives its name to the modern long-distance race.
Other Meanings of “Marathon”
Also Known As
Race of Endurance Long-Distance Challenge Heroic Run
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