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 T

Toyol

Folklore
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

Malay spirit of a stillborn child, used by shamans for theft or mischief

Detailed Definition
Toyol are bound by blood and require feeding. In poetry, they symbolize the commodification of the sacred, the burden of guilt, and the horror of exploiting the innocent, often used in gothic or moralistic Southeast Asian contexts.
Example
Example in poetry:
Toyol, Malaysian infant spirit, haunts moral poetry: "Toyol steals for greedy hands—green eyes wide, but soul is bound"; Poets use it to explore exploitation: "He serves the rich, but cries at night—Toyol’s chains are spells and pain"; In cautionary verse, it symbolizes karmic debt: "Wealth gained by Toyol fades to ash—spirit’s price is never paid"; Its childlike form contrasts with horror: "Cute as babe, but cold as stone—Toyol’s love is never free"
Additional Notes
Toyol: A child spirit in Malay and Indonesian folklore, summoned by shamans to steal or spy, appearing as a green-skinned infant with red eyes. Represents morally ambiguous magic and the commodification of the dead. In poetry, it embodies ethical compromise, grief exploitation, and postcolonial critiques of black magic. Handle with cultural respect—rooted in real spiritual practices; useful in Southeast Asian gothic or moral allegory.
Also Known As
Tuyul
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