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

“suffering” across the centuries

Related terms Include related catalogue terms in the chart (each poem counted once per era, even if it has several tags).
ring 7 poems erin 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 0 / 30 BCE 2 / 12 1500s 1 / 12 1550s 4 / 93 1600s 8 / 183 1650s 6 / 60 1700s 4 / 36 1750s 17 / 165 1800s 34 / 699 1850s 64 / 966 1900s 35 / 1143 1950s 0 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Odi et amo
Available versions

Odi et amo

by Gaius Valerius Catullus · Latin

Gaius Valerius Catullus portrait

c. 84 BC - c. 54 BC (~30)

Best of all for mortal beings
Available versions

Best of all for mortal beings

by Theognis of Megara · Greek

Theognis of Megara portrait

c. 570 BC - c. 485 BC (~85)

No Pleasure Without Some Pain
Available versions

No Pleasure Without Some Pain

by Thomas, Lord Vaux · English

Thomas, Lord Vaux portrait

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

To be, or not to be
Available versions

To be, or not to be

by William Shakespeare · English

William Shakespeare portrait

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

Fancy, Farewell
Available versions

Fancy, Farewell

by Sir Edward Dyer · English

Sir Edward Dyer portrait

c. October 1543 - 11 May 1607 (~64)

Fair is my love
Available versions

Fair is my love

by Samuel Daniel · English

Samuel Daniel portrait

c. 1562 - 14 October 1619 (~57)

A Short View of the State of Man
Available versions

A Short View of the State of Man

by William Alexander · English

William Alexander portrait

c. 1567 - 12 February 1640 (~73)

Revelation Ch.6
Available versions

Revelation Ch.6

by King James Bible · English

King James Bible portrait

1611 - present

The Triple Foole
Available versions

The Triple Foole

by John Donne · English

John Donne portrait

1572 - 31 March 1631 (~59)

I could but see thee yesterday
Available versions

I could but see thee yesterday

by Robert Herrick · English

Robert Herrick portrait

24 August 1591 - 15 October 1674 (~83)

Psalm 34
Available versions

Psalm 34

by King James Bible · English

King James Bible portrait

1611 - present

The Heart Breaking
Available versions

The Heart Breaking

by Abraham Cowley · English

Abraham Cowley portrait

1618 - 28 July 1667 (~49)

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