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.

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



1261

The Spread of Paper Technology in Europe

What happened

By 1261, the technology of paper-making had begun to spread from the Islamic world into Europe, significantly impacting the way information was recorded and disseminated. The introduction of paper allowed for more efficient writing and record-keeping compared to parchment and vellum. This innovation was particularly important in cities like Venice and Florence, where trade and scholarship flourished, leading to an increase in literacy and literary production.

Literary impact

The availability of paper revolutionized the publishing industry, enabling poets and writers to produce and distribute their works more widely. This shift contributed to the flourishing of literary culture in Europe, as seen in the works of poets like Petrarch, who utilized this new medium to share his sonnets and ideas, ultimately influencing the development of modern poetry.

Source: Wikipedia

Poets alive in 1261

1 poet

More events in 1261

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