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


On 12 August in poetry and history

Poets born or who died on this date, plus historical events that happened on this day across history.

610 poets with calendar dates · 6,535 events with calendar dates in the catalogue

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4 birthdays · 3 death anniversaries · 4 world events on 12 August

Birthdays

Death anniversaries

World events on this day

  • 12 August 1981

    IBM Personal Computer Launch

    International Business Machines introduced the IBM Personal Computer in Boca Raton, Florida, United States, establishing standards that dominated home and office computing. Featuring an Intel processor and Microsoft's DOS operating system, the IBM PC legitimized personal computing for business use and spawned an industry of compatible clones. Though not the first personal computer, IBM's brand recognition and open architecture accelerated mainstream adoption, bringing computational power to individual desks worldwide.

    Event 1981

  • 12 August 2000

    The Miraculous Deep-Sea Survival of the Kursk Submarine Survivors

    Following a catastrophic torpedo explosion that sank the nuclear submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea, Russia, a group of 23 surviving sailors led by Lieutenant Captain Dmitry Kolesnikov retreated to the vessel's isolated ninth compartment. In complete, freezing darkness at a depth of 354 feet, the men displayed extraordinary collective discipline and physical endurance, managing their rapidly depleting oxygen supplies and rising carbon dioxide levels while waiting for a rescue fleet that never arrived. Kolesnikov maintained absolute psychological calm, utilizing his final hours to write a moving farewell letter to his family and document the names of the survivors before a flash fire consumed the remaining oxygen.

    Event 2000

  • 12 August 1902

    Discovery of the First Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil

    Barnum Brown, a prominent American paleontologist, discovered the first partial skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in Montana. The species was later officially named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1905. T. Rex quickly became the most famous and iconic dinosaur, captivating the public imagination as the ultimate predatory dinosaur of the Cretaceous period.

    Event 1902

  • 12 August 1877

    Discovery of Phobos and Deimos

    In August 1877, American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered both of Mars' moons within days of each other, naming them Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Dread) after the sons of the god Ares. Observed through the US Naval Observatory's powerful refractor telescope, these tiny irregular moons were unlike anything previously known. Their discovery expanded understanding of planetary systems and inspired poets and writers captivated by the mythology of Mars.

    Event 1877
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