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 Wilgefortis

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

Legendary medieval virgin who prayed for a beard to deter a suitor and was crucified, patron of difficult marriages.

Detailed Definition
Saint Wilgefortis, or Uncumber, is a folk saint whose beard legend aided women seeking release from unwanted unions. In poetry, she symbolizes unconventional resistance and gender fluidity in hagiography. Poets use her in feminist or ironic verses on marriage and bodily autonomy. Her cult inspires themes of miraculous transformation and the subversion of patriarchal expectations in medieval popular devotion.
Example
Example in poetry:
Saint Wilgefortis's miraculous beard legend appears in folk poetry subverting marriage and celebrating unconventional female resistance.; Poets use Saint Wilgefortis in feminist medieval verse as patron of difficult marriages and bodily autonomy.; A humorous or ironic lyric might dramatize her crucifixion after praying for disfigurement.; Students could explore her cult in gender-fluid hagiographic sequences.; Her story enriches themes of miraculous transformation and patriarchal defiance in popular devotion.
Additional Notes
Saint Wilgefortis (or Uncumber), a legendary medieval virgin who prayed for a beard to deter an unwanted suitor and was subsequently crucified. In poetry, she represents unconventional resistance to patriarchal marriage and bodily autonomy. Usage tip: employ her miraculous beard in feminist or ironic verses subverting gender expectations; related to other bearded or defiant virgin saints, she enriches medieval folk and popular devotional poetry on difficult marriages and transformative prayer.
Also Known As
Wilgefortis Uncumber Liberata St. Wilgefortis
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