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



Upekkha

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

Equanimity or impartiality in Buddhism, maintaining balance amid pleasure and pain, gain and loss.

Detailed Definition
Upekkha is the fourth Brahma Vihara, representing serene acceptance without attachment or aversion. In poetry, it appears as a mountain unmoved by storms or a still pond reflecting clouds without clinging. Poets value upekkha not as cold detachment but as deep stability that allows genuine care to flow without burnout or bias.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Buddhist poem: “Upekkhā is not indifference—it’s equanimity that holds joy and sorrow equally”; In a modern verse, “Upekkhā is watching my team lose—and still feeling peace”; A minimalist haiku: “Autumn leaves fall—/ upekkhā in the letting / without regret”; A meditation reflection: “Upekkhā is the calm after the storm of caring.”
Additional Notes
Upekkha is one of the four Brahma-viharas (sublime states) in Buddhism, meaning equanimity or impartiality. It is a state of mental balance and non-attachment, free from craving and aversion, in the face of life's eight worldly conditions: gain and loss, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. For poets, Upekkha represents the ideal of unshakable inner peace, the calm center in the storm of existence, and the wisdom of seeing all beings with equal regard.
Also Known As
Upeksa Equanimity
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