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



Secret

World Religion
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

Knowledge that is hidden, esoteric, or known only to the initiated, often concerning mystical or divine truths.

Detailed Definition
The concept of secret knowledge (esotericism) is vital in mystical traditions like Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and Sufism, where ultimate truths are believed to be concealed within sacred texts or transmitted directly from master to disciple. Poetry is a natural medium for hinting at secrets, using symbolism, paradox, and allusion to convey truths that are felt to be inexpressible in direct language. The poetic pursuit of the secret mirrors the spiritual quest for gnosis (direct knowledge of God), celebrating the mystery at the heart of existence.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Kabbalistic poetry, Secret (sod) is hidden wisdom: “Letters dance—Secret in Torah’s white spaces”; In Sufi verse, Secret is love’s mystery: “Don’t speak the Name—Secret burns unready ears”; In contemporary poetry, Secret is trauma: “Locked diary—Secret that aches to be held”; Poets distinguish Secret from silence: “Secret kept for safety—silence that protects.”
Additional Notes
Secret knowledge (gnosis, raz in Hebrew) is reserved for initiates in mystery cults, Kabbalah, or Sufism; it is not elitist but protective—truths too potent for unprepared minds; poets use secrecy to create layered texts, where surface meaning guards deeper insight, inviting readers into gradual unveiling through sustained engagement.
Also Known As
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