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

Mask

Symbolism
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 mask symbolizes concealment, performance, divided identity, or social role.

Detailed Definition
A mask hides one face while presenting another, making it a flexible symbol for deception and self-protection. Poets use masks to explore public versus private identity, racial or gendered roles, grief hidden behind politeness, and the theatrical nature of social life. Removing a mask may promise honesty, but it can also expose vulnerability. Sometimes the mask becomes so familiar that the wearer no longer knows what lies beneath it.
Example
Example in poetry:
A mask can symbolize the difference between a public identity and a private self; Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" uses the mask to represent hidden pain beneath a forced social expression; A carnival mask can symbolize freedom to explore forbidden desires or alternative identities; A speaker removing a mask before a mirror can symbolize a difficult moment of honesty or self-recognition
Additional Notes
A mask represents concealment, role-playing, and the difference between public identity and private feeling. It may protect the wearer, deceive others, or reveal that identity itself is performed. Related concepts include persona, disguise, double self, and dramatic irony. Ask what the mask hides and what it unexpectedly exposes.
Also Known As
Disguise Visage vizard
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