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

swounds

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

Swounds is a contraction of "God's wounds," an oath expressing shock or emphasis.

Detailed Definition
Swounds, a minced oath from "God's wounds," adds colloquial vigor or blasphemy in dramatic poetry. Shakespearean characters employ it for realism. Poets use its archaic edge for emotional outburst, irony, or period flavor in character-driven verse exploring passion and conflict.
Example
Example in poetry:
Swounds, what devilry is this before mine eyes?; Swounds, the traitor shall pay for his deeds!; "Swounds!" cried the guard upon seeing the ghost.; Swounds, the storm breaks with furious might.; Swounds, thy courage knows no earthly bound.; Swounds, the tale shall live in song and story.
Additional Notes
Notes on swounds: Minced oath from "God's wounds," swounds adds shock or realism in dramatic poetry. Shakespearean characters use it for vigor. Students insert for emotional outburst. Tip: suit character-driven scenes. Related to oaths. Professors discuss blasphemy taboos. Its archaic edge injects irony or period flavor, helping learners portray passion and conflict through colloquial yet historical expressions that ground elevated drama.
Also Known As
zounds gads
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