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 P

purfle

Archaic Terms
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

An ornamental border or trim, especially one decorating the edge of a garment or object; to decorate with such ornamental edging.

Detailed Definition
"Purfle" derives from Old French "porfiler" (to ornament with embroidery), referring to decorative borders or trims adorning garments, furnishings, or objects. The term functions as both noun (the ornamental border itself) and verb (to add such decoration). Medieval and Renaissance descriptions of rich clothing and furnishings employed it when precise vocabulary for decorative details mattered. Poets used "purfle" when depicting luxury, craftsmanship, or the visual details distinguishing fine from ordinary goods. The word's specificity—not just decoration but specifically border ornamentation—allowed precise description. Its archaic quality suited historical settings requiring authentic vocabulary for material culture and decorative arts. The term appears in contexts exploring wealth, craftsmanship, and visual beauty where attention to decorative detail revealed character, social status, or thematic significance. Its technical precision enriched poetic vocabulary for describing the visual world's material details.
Example
Example in poetry:
The robe was purfled with golden thread; "Purfled edges" indicates decorated borders; To purfle means to ornament edges with embroidery; The banner was purfled with the family arms; Medieval vestments were richly purfled; Skilled needlework purfled the tapestry's border
Additional Notes
Purfle appears in descriptions of elaborate decoration, particularly on clothing, musical instruments, and decorative objects. The term's specificity (ornamental border) distinguishes it from general "decorate." Related to "profile" etymologically through complex path. Essential for analyzing decoration vocabulary, luxury object description, and how texts represent craftsmanship and ornamentation. The term appears in detailed costume descriptions, discussions of valuable objects, and contexts emphasizing fine workmanship. Useful for discussing how literature represents material culture, the vocabulary of luxury and craftsmanship, and whether detailed decoration terms serve realism, atmosphere, or display author's specialized knowledge. The term's relative obscurity makes it marker of either technical accuracy or deliberately specialized diction.
Also Known As
embroider trim adorn border
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