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 18 July 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 death anniversaries · 5 world events on 18 July

Birthdays

Death anniversaries

World events on this day

  • 18 July 1881

    Publication of Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' (Deathbed Edition)

    In 1881, Walt Whitman published the seventh edition of 'Leaves of Grass,' often called the 'Deathbed Edition,' which included revisions and new poems reflecting his experiences during and after the Civil War. Published in Philadelphia, the volume consolidated Whitman's lifelong poetic project and included his famous elegies for Lincoln, 'O Captain! My Captain!' and 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.' The edition cemented Whitman's reputation as America's national poet.

    Event 1881

  • 18 July 1905

    Einstein publishes photoelectric effect paper in Bern

    In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper explaining the photoelectric effect, the emission of electrons from a material when struck by light, from his office at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern, Switzerland. Einstein proposed that light consisted of discrete packets of energy later called photons, whose interaction with electrons was purely electrical. This paper, written in Bern, provided crucial evidence for the quantum theory of light and earned Einstein the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, fundamentally linking optical and electrical phenomena at the quantum level.

    Event 1905

  • 18 July 1290

    Expulsion of the Jews from England

    Edward I issued the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, ordering England's Jewish population to leave the kingdom. Communities in London, York, Lincoln and other towns lost homes, property and institutions, and organised Jewish settlement did not officially resume until the seventeenth century. The expulsion followed decades of taxation and persecution.

    Event 1290

  • 18 July 1803

    First Balloon Ascent in Russia

    On July 18, 1803, French aeronaut André-Jacques Garnerin and his niece Élisa performed the first balloon ascent in Russia over St. Petersburg, reaching an altitude of approximately 2,500 meters before a large crowd that included Tsar Alexander I. This demonstration introduced Russian aristocracy and public to balloon technology, sparking interest that would lead to Russian contributions to aeronautical science.

    Event 1803

  • 18 July 1976

    Nadia Comăneci's Perfect 10 at Olympics

    In 1976, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci made history by scoring the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics at the Montreal Games. Her flawless routines captivated audiences and set a new standard for excellence in the sport. Comăneci's achievement not only earned her multiple gold medals but also inspired a generation of gymnasts and elevated the profile of gymnastics on the world stage.

    Event 1976
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