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 17 April 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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2 birthdays · 3 world events on 17 April

Birthdays

World events on this day

  • 17 April 1521

    Diet of Worms condemns Martin Luther

    The Diet of Worms convened in 1521, presided over by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, where Martin Luther famously refused to recant his 95 Theses. This pivotal moment in the Protestant Reformation resulted in Luther being declared an outlaw, solidifying the divide between Catholicism and emerging Protestant beliefs. The Diet underscored the growing tensions between religious authority and individual conscience, influencing the course of European history and the development of modern religious thought.

    Event 1521

  • 17 April 1524

    Giovanni da Verrazzano Explores the Atlantic Coast of North America

    In 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing under the French flag, embarked on an expedition to explore the Atlantic coast of North America. He is credited with being the first European to enter New York Harbor and to chart parts of the coastline from North Carolina to Newfoundland. Verrazzano's explorations provided valuable information about the geography and indigenous peoples of the region, paving the way for future European exploration and colonization. His journey contributed to the broader narrative of European expansion in the New World.

    Event 1524

  • 17 April 1943

    The Miraculous Arctic Escape of Jan Baalsrud

    Following a failed sabotage mission in occupied northern Norway, Norwegian resistance fighter Jan Baalsrud became the sole survivor of his team and fled toward neutral Sweden while hunted by the Gestapo. Swimming across freezing Arctic fjords, surviving a massive avalanche that left him blind and concunssed, and suffering severe frostbite, Baalsrud spent weeks isolated in snow caves and remote cabins. In a desperate bid to halt the spread of gangrene, he amputated several of his own toes with a pocketknife, enduring unimaginable pain before local villagers managed to pull him across the snowy mountains on a sled to safety, concluding an unparalleled solo feat of wilderness endurance.

    Event 1943
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