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

mule

Fauna
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 mule is the hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, known for its strength, endurance, and famously stubborn disposition, symbolizing the productive, often obstinate, middle ground between two worlds.

Detailed Definition
The mule, being sterile, carries a poetic weight of fruitlessness and isolation, yet its hybrid vigor makes it stronger and more durable than either parent. Its stubbornness is often recast as prudence, as it refuses to overwork itself. Poets use the mule to explore themes of hybridity, the tension between two heritages, the patient labor of mountain trails, and the indomitable spirit that resists coercion, often celebrating its sure-footedness as a metaphor for careful, steady progress through rocky terrain.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem describes the mule's stubbornness: "Ye old mule that think yourself so fair, Leave off with craft your beauty to repair".; Banjo Paterson's "When Dacey Rode the Mule" tells a humorous story.; The mule can symbolize hybridity and endurance.; Its strength represents hard labor.; The animal's role in transport is noted.
Additional Notes
The mule, as a hybrid offspring of a donkey and a horse, carries a poetic weight of fruitlessness and isolation, yet its hybrid vigor makes it stronger and more durable than either parent. Its stubbornness is often recast as prudence, as it refuses to overwork itself. Poets often use the mule to explore themes of hybridity, the tension between two heritages, and the patient labor of mountain trails. The mule's sterility adds a layer of tragic limitation, making it a figure for the creative but non-reproductive life. When writing, consider the mule's sure-footedness as a metaphor for careful, steady progress through rocky terrain, and its status as a creature that belongs to neither horse nor donkey.
Also Known As
ass sumpter
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