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

strew

Archaic Terms
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 verb meaning to scatter or spread things over a surface; to strew or cover with scattered objects, often flowers or natural materials.

Detailed Definition
"Bestrew" combines the intensive prefix "be-" with "strew" (scatter), creating a verb meaning to scatter things upon or over something. The term appears frequently in poetry describing pastoral scenes, ceremonial occasions, or aftermath of violence—flowers bestrewed paths, rushes bestrewed floors, bodies bestrewed battlefields. Its use often carries emotional weight, as what is scattered and how it's scattered reveals meaning. Wedding processions featured paths bestrewed with flowers; tragic scenes showed ground bestrewed with dead. Poets valued the word's ability to create visual imagery while suggesting abundance, celebration, or devastation depending on context. The prefix intensifies the action, making bestrew more emphatic than simple strew. Its archaic quality suited formal descriptions of ritual or aftermath in verse seeking elevated or ceremonial language.
Example
Example in poetry:
“She strewed rose petals on the path,” in a ceremonial lyric; In Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance... / There’s pansies, that’s for thoughts... / There’s fennel for you, and columbines... / There’s rue for you... / Here’s some violets... / I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died”; “The wind strewed leaves like forgotten letters”; “Strew not ashes where flowers may grow”; “The battlefield was strewed with broken spears”; He strewed his verses like seeds.

Maidens bestrew the path with rose petals; "Bestrew the grave with flowers sweet" is a funeral verse; The wind bestrews autumn leaves across the ground; They bestrew the altar with sacred herbs; Spring bestrews the meadow with wildflowers; Stars bestrew the heavens like scattered diamonds
Additional Notes
“Strew” implies artful or mournful scattering—flowers on graves, leaves in autumn; in ritual or elegiac contexts, it transforms randomness into ceremony, linking generosity, memory, and transience through gentle dispersal.

Bestrew appears primarily in pastoral poetry, funeral elegies, and romantic descriptions where literal or figurative scattering creates beauty or mourning. "Bestrew with flowers" is the classic construction, appearing in wedding and funeral contexts. Spenser and Milton use it for decorative natural descriptions. The prefix "be-" suggests thorough coverage, distinguishing it from simple "strew." Related to "strew," "scatter," and "besprinkle." Often implies generous, lavish distribution rather than sparse scattering. Essential for analyzing scenes of tribute, natural abundance, or ceremonial decoration. The term appears frequently in epithalamia (wedding poems) and threnodies (funeral poems), marking transitions and honoring subjects. Its pastoral associations link it to idealized nature and human harmony with natural beauty.
Also Known As
scatter spread disperse bestrew sprinkle
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