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.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this 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


Theme Timeline

Pick a theme and see how often it shows up across 50-year cohorts of V2Melody poets. Bars are normalised so small cohorts don't get drowned out by large ones.

Choose a theme

— none — world life love death beauty nature self social beloved desire memory divine spiritual heart grief power romantic suffering woman light soul dead body loss pain music wind philosophical voice landscape hope religious spring flowers sorrow children water faith bird lover rose silence mortality domestic presence childhood sound earth past consciousness truth dream women irish eyes flower garden mind rain lovers

“nature” across the centuries

Bar length = percentage of poems in that cohort whose critique surfaced this theme. Click an era to focus the poem list below.

pre-1500 10 / 30 BCE 1 / 12 1500s 1 / 12 1550s 4 / 93 1600s 11 / 183 1650s 6 / 60 1700s 2 / 36 1750s 24 / 165 1800s 157 / 699 1850s 119 / 966 1900s 108 / 1143 1950s 1 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Quiet Night Thoughts
Available versions

Quiet Night Thoughts

by Li Bai · Mandarin Chinese

Li Bai portrait

701 - 762 (~61)

The Song of Ch'ŏyong
Available versions

The Song of Ch'ŏyong

by Ch'ŏyong · Korean

Ch'ŏyong portrait

c. 800 - c. 900 (~100)

General Prologue - Opening
Available versions

General Prologue - Opening

by Geoffrey Chaucer · Middle English

Geoffrey Chaucer portrait

c. 1343 - 25 October 1400 (~57)

O vis eternitatis
Available versions

O vis eternitatis

by Hildegard of Bingen · Latin

Hildegard of Bingen portrait

c. 1098 - 17 September 1179 (~81)

Merciles Beaute
Available versions

Merciles Beaute

by Geoffrey Chaucer · Middle English

Geoffrey Chaucer portrait

c. 1343 - 25 October 1400 (~57)

Spring Song of the Birds
Available versions

Spring Song of the Birds

by King James I of Scotland · English

King James I of Scotland portrait

July 1394 - 21 February 1437 (~43)

Ode 1.11
Available versions

Ode 1.11

by Quintus Horatius Flaccus · Latin

Quintus Horatius Flaccus portrait

8 December 65 BC - 27 November 8 BC (~38)

Give Place, Ye Lovers
Available versions

Give Place, Ye Lovers

by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey · English

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey portrait

c. 1517 - 19 January 1547 (~30)

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Available versions

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

by Christopher Marlowe · English

Christopher Marlowe portrait

26 February 1564 - 30 May 1593 (~29)

Sonnet 18
Available versions

Sonnet 18

by William Shakespeare · English

William Shakespeare portrait

c. 23 April 1564 - 23 April 1616 (~52)

Ariel's Song
Available versions

Ariel's Song

by William Shakespeare · English

William Shakespeare portrait

c. 23 April 1564 - 23 April 1616 (~52)

Sephestia's Song to Her Child
Available versions

Sephestia's Song to Her Child

by Robert Greene · English

Robert Greene portrait

c. 11 July 1558 - 3 September 1592 (~34)

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