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 25 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

Previous Today Next

1 birthday · 5 death anniversaries · 4 world events on 25 August

Birthdays

Death anniversaries

World events on this day

  • 25 August 1958

    The Invention of Instant Ramen Noodles by Momofuku Ando

    In Osaka, Japan, Nissin Food Products founder Momofuku Ando invented instant ramen by flash-frying parboiled noodles in palm oil to create a completely dehydrated, shelf-stable, and hyper-convenient meal block that rehydrated instantly in boiling water. Originally introduced as a premium luxury item in a starving, post-WWII Japan struggling with systemic food shortages, it evolved into a highly affordable global culinary phenomenon. This invention permanently reshaped global convenience dining and the urbanization diet across Asia and the Americas.

    Event 1958

  • 25 August 2022

    Pakistan floods reveal climate vulnerability along the Indus

    The 2022 Pakistan floods followed extreme monsoon rains and glacial melt, submerging large areas of the country. Millions were displaced, and homes, crops, roads, and schools were damaged. The disaster became a stark example of climate vulnerability in a country with deep riverine civilisation.

    Event 2022

  • 25 August 1989

    Voyager 2 Neptune Flyby

    In 1989, Voyager 2 completed its historic flyby of Neptune, providing humanity with its first close-up images of the planet and its moons. This mission was part of NASA's Voyager program, which aimed to explore the outer planets of our solar system. The data collected during this flyby expanded our understanding of Neptune's atmosphere, rings, and moons, marking a significant milestone in planetary science and exploration.

    Event 1989

  • 25 August 1931

    Discovery of Radio Astronomy

    In 1931 Karl Jansky, an American radio engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories, detected a persistent hiss of radio waves originating from the centre of the Milky Way, founding the field of radio astronomy. His discovery opened an entirely new window on the universe, revealing phenomena invisible to optical telescopes. The ability to listen to the cosmos as well as observe it offered poets a powerful new metaphor for hidden cosmic communication.

    Event 1931
Skip to main content