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 S

Saint John the Baptist

Saints
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

Prophet who baptized Jesus and preached repentance, beheaded for condemning Herod.

Detailed Definition
Saint John embodies ascetic prophecy and preparatory witness. In poetry, his wilderness voice and martyrdom inspire calls to moral awakening and sacrificial truth-telling across biblical and modern prophetic verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
Saint John the Baptist's wilderness voice and beheading are used in prophetic poetry as calls to repentance and sacrificial truth-telling.; Poets invoke his baptism of Jesus in baptismal and preparatory verses on moral awakening.; In biblical dramatic monologues, he represents ascetic witness confronting power.; A poet could employ his locusts-and-honey diet in nature poetry contrasting simplicity and judgment.; His martyrdom inspires lyrics on the cost of speaking truth to authority.
Additional Notes
Saint John the Baptist, forerunner who baptized Jesus and preached repentance, was beheaded by Herod for condemning his marriage; symbolized by camel hair and locusts. Poets use his wilderness voice for prophetic call and moral courage in biblical or social justice verse. Tip: contrast preparation with fulfillment in Advent poetry; related to Jesus and prophets, he models sacrificial truth-telling.
Also Known As
John the Baptist St. John the Baptist
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