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.

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 N

nine men's morris

Games
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

Nine men's morris is a traditional strategy game played on a grid where players form lines of three to capture opposing pieces.

Detailed Definition
Nine men's morris appears in poetry as a emblem of alignment, capture, and the closing of gaps in social or cosmic order. Referenced in rural and historical contexts, it evokes the careful placement of forces that determine victory. Poets use its mills and removals to illustrate how temporary formations lead to permanent losses, mirroring alliances and betrayals in human affairs.
Example
Example in poetry:
Nine men’s morris, with its mills and removals, supplies poets with images of formed power and sudden loss; Traditional verse places the board among the quiet strategies of the hearth; “He made the mill and the opposing piece was lifted from the field” illustrates completed force; Educational poetry shows the game as a map of temporary alliance and permanent capture; Poets return to nine men’s morris whenever pattern must lead to removal.
Additional Notes
Nine men’s morris stages the formation of mills and the removal of opposing pieces on a board that is both simple and exacting. The game’s traditional status allows poets to evoke continuity of play across centuries. Classroom discussion can usefully examine the board as a map of pattern and power. Related alignment games include merels and the various three-in-a-row contests. The image rewards attention to the moment when the completed line becomes a capture.
Also Known As
merels mills morelles morris
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