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 Romuald

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

11th-century Italian founder of the Camaldolese Benedictines, promoting eremitic life within community.

Detailed Definition
Saint Romuald reformed monasticism through solitude and obedience. In poetry, he symbolizes the balance of contemplation and action in the "white martyrdom." Poets invoke him in verses on woodland hermitages and vocational renewal. His legacy appears in medieval monastic poetry exploring the desert ideal in Western landscapes.
Example
Example in poetry:
Saint Romuald's founding of the Camaldolese inspires eremitic poetry celebrating wilderness solitude and reformed monastic balance.; Poets use Saint Romuald in 11th-century Italian verse to symbolize the "white martyrdom" of disciplined contemplation.; A reflective lyric might explore his rejection of high office for chartreuse life.; Students could write on his Rule in sequences contrasting action and withdrawal.; His legacy enriches medieval monastic poetry on hidden vocation and the sanctification of rugged landscapes.
Additional Notes
Saint Romuald (c. 951–1027), Italian founder of the Camaldolese Benedictines, promoted a mixed eremitic-cenobitic life emphasizing solitude, silence, and obedience in wilderness settings. In poetry, he symbolizes reformed monastic balance and the "white martyrdom" of disciplined contemplation. Usage tip: invoke the Camaldolese ideal in verses on hidden vocation or contrast his Rule with more communal orders; related to Bruno and other 11th-century reformers, he enriches medieval Italian monastic poetry exploring wilderness as sacred space, the sanctification of solitude, and the transmission of desert ideals to Western landscapes.
Also Known As
Romuald of Ravenna Romuald the Camaldolese St. Romuald
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