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.

I want a simpler life, without the hassle of being online. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit the life I want.

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.

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 T

Take the rough with the smooth

Idiomatic Phrase
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

Take the rough with the smooth means to accept both good and bad aspects of life; in philosophical poetry, it embodies equanimity, realism, and the balanced acceptance of life's inherent dualities.

Detailed Definition
Take the rough with the smooth means to accept both difficulties and pleasures as part of life. In poetry, the idiom is valuable for mature reflection, marriage, labour, ageing, travel, and spiritual endurance. Its tactile contrast between roughness and smoothness makes experience feel physical, like a surface touched by the hand. A poet may use it to resist sentimental ideals, showing that love, work, and survival include hardship as well as grace. The phrase suggests balance, patience, and realistic acceptance.
Example
Example in poetry:
A marriage poem might say true love must take the rough with the smooth through winter and May; In a sailor's song, the crew takes the rough with the smooth as storms follow clear mornings; The phrase means to accept both difficulties and pleasures; A poet can use it for maturity and endurance.
Additional Notes
Take the rough with the smooth means accept life’s difficulties along with its pleasures. In poetry, it can express maturity, marriage, ageing, labour, travel, or philosophical resignation. The tactile contrast matters: rough and smooth are felt by the hand, making fortune physical. Students should ask whether acceptance is wisdom or passivity. The phrase pairs well with roads, seas, wood, weather, and relationships in which joy and hardship are inseparable.
Also Known As
accept both
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