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


1870

Event dated 1870–1871

War

First Balloon Mail Service

What happened

During the Siege of Paris in 1870-1871, balloons carried mail and passengers out of the besieged city, establishing the first regular balloon mail service in history. Over 66 unmanned balloons carried approximately 2.5 million letters out of Paris, while homing pigeons brought replies back, creating a remarkable communication system under extraordinary circumstances.

Literary impact

The balloon post during the siege inspired poetry celebrating human resilience and ingenuity under pressure, with the fragile balloons becoming symbols of hope escaping confinement. French poets composed verses about letters carried by balloon, exploring themes of separation, communication, and the persistence of human connection despite military blockade, while the episode influenced later literary treatments of war and civilian experience.

Source: Wikipedia

Poets alive in 1870

199 poets

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