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 O

On the take

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

On the take|Idiomatic Phrase|Accepting bribes, kickbacks, or illegal payments; describes corrupt behavior where someone receives money in exchange for favors or influence.

Detailed Definition
On the take means accepting bribes, behaving corruptly, or profiting dishonestly from a position of trust. In poetry, the idiom is useful for political satire, social critique, noir-like narratives, and poems about moral decay. Its blunt colloquial sound suits exposure and accusation. A poet may use it to show how corruption enters ordinary systems through appetite, fear, or entitlement. The phrase also invites contrast between public respectability and hidden transaction, making it effective in dramatic and civic poems.
Example
Example in poetry:
A political satire might accuse the judge of being on the take while justice waits outside; In a city poem, policemen on the take turn streetlamps into witnesses of corruption; The phrase means secretly accepting bribes; A poet can use it to expose moral decay.
Additional Notes
On the take means accepting bribes or corrupt payments. The idiom is blunt and morally charged, useful in political satire, crime poetry, social protest, or dramatic monologue. It frames corruption as taking rather than earning, emphasising appetite and dishonesty. Students should notice how short, hard sounds give the phrase a clipped accusatory force. It pairs well with envelopes, hands, pockets, favours, and compromised authority.
Also Known As
corrupt
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