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



vice

Tools
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 vice is a bench-mounted device with jaws that close to hold a workpiece firmly during cutting, filing, drilling, or assembly.

Detailed Definition
A vice uses a screw or lever to draw two jaws together, securing wood, metal, or another object so that both hands remain free for work. In poetry its practical grip easily merges with the moral meaning of vice and the bodily image of being squeezed. It may therefore represent constraint, pressure, addiction, authority, or circumstances tightening around a person. Yet in a workshop it is also a source of stability and precision, showing how restraint can make careful creation possible.
Example
Example in poetry:
The carpenter tightened the vice until the board could no longer move; A vice may symbolise restraint, pressure, or circumstances closing around a person; Its firm grip can also represent the stability needed for accurate work; Poets may exploit the double meaning of vice as both a workshop tool and a moral failing.
Additional Notes
The workshop vice holds a workpiece firmly so that cutting, drilling, filing, or assembly can be performed safely. Its jaws tighten through a screw mechanism, creating stability through restraint. Poets often exploit the homonym vice, meaning immoral habit or weakness, so context may support deliberate wordplay. The tool can represent pressure, confinement, addiction, or useful discipline. Related terms include clamp, jaws, screw, workbench, grip, pressure, restraint, stability, addiction, moral failing, craftsmanship, control, and circumstances tightening around an individual.
Also Known As
vise bench vice bench vise
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