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 S

Stone

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

A natural, solid mineral material, often used in religious contexts for altars, pillars, tombs, and as a symbol of stability, faith, or divine presence.

Detailed Definition
Stones have deep religious significance: the Black Stone of the Kaaba in Islam, the tablets of the Law in Judaism, the Lingam in Hinduism, and Christ as the "cornerstone." Poets use stones to represent permanence, foundation, and the unyielding nature of divine truth or law. They can also symbolize spiritual deadness (a "heart of stone") or, conversely, the potential for life, as when Moses struck water from a rock, making the stone a multifaceted symbol of judgment, sustenance, and transformation.
Example
Example in poetry:
In biblical poetry, Stone is foundation: “Cornerstone rejected—Stone that builds anew”; In Zen verse, Stone is stillness: “Garden rock—Stone, unmoved by seasons”; In contemporary poetry, Stone is memory: “Grave marker—Stone that speaks when voice is gone”; Poets contrast Stone and water: “Heart of Stone—vs. heart that flows like river.”
Additional Notes
Stones mark sacred events—Jacob’s pillow, Sinai’s tablets, Kaaba’s Black Stone; they symbolize permanence, covenant, and divine encounter; poets use stone to evoke memory (engraved law), resilience (cornerstone), or transformation (water from rock)—reminding that even the hardest heart can become altar.
Other Meanings of “Stone”
Also Known As
Rock Gemstone Philosopher’s Stone (in alchemical-religious syncretism) Stane carraig
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