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

“self” across the centuries

Related terms Include related catalogue terms in the chart (each poem counted once per era, even if it has several tags).
selves 2 poems selfish 1 poem

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

pre-1500 2 / 30 BCE 1 / 12 1500s 3 / 12 1550s 10 / 93 1600s 18 / 183 1650s 9 / 60 1700s 3 / 36 1750s 23 / 165 1800s 85 / 699 1850s 125 / 966 1900s 133 / 1143 1950s 3 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Song Cui Jiu
Available versions

Song Cui Jiu

by Pei Di · Mandarin Chinese

Pei Di portrait

714 - c. 800 (~86)

O friend, accept me and take my life
Available versions

O friend, accept me and take my life

by Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī · Persian

Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī portrait

30 September 1207 - 17 December 1273 (~66)

Ode IV.1
Available versions

Ode IV.1

by Quintus Horatius Flaccus · Latin

Quintus Horatius Flaccus portrait

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

I Find No Peace
Available versions

I Find No Peace

by Sir Thomas Wyatt · English

Sir Thomas Wyatt portrait

c. 1503 - 11 October 1542 (~39)

Your Looks so Often Cast
Available versions

Your Looks so Often Cast

by Sir Thomas Wyatt · English

Sir Thomas Wyatt portrait

c. 1503 - 11 October 1542 (~39)

The Aged Lover Renounceth Love
Available versions

The Aged Lover Renounceth Love

by Thomas, Lord Vaux · English

Thomas, Lord Vaux portrait

25 April 1509 - c. October 1556 (~47)

The Character of a Happy Life
Available versions

The Character of a Happy Life

by Sir Henry Wotton · English

Sir Henry Wotton portrait

30 March 1568 - December 1639 (~71)

A Lover's Lullaby
Available versions

A Lover's Lullaby

by George Gascoigne · English

George Gascoigne portrait

c. 1539 - 7 October 1577 (~38)

Now is the winter of our discontent
Available versions

Now is the winter of our discontent

by William Shakespeare · English

William Shakespeare portrait

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

If music be the food of love
Available versions

If music be the food of love

by William Shakespeare · English

William Shakespeare portrait

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

To Thine Own Self Be True
Available versions

To Thine Own Self Be True

by William Shakespeare · English

William Shakespeare portrait

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

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Available versions

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

by Barnabe Googe · English

Barnabe Googe portrait

11 June 1540 - February 1594 (~54)

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