Happy Birthday Matt!
The last time I posted in this space was 2008. At that time, I was staring down the barrel of 25. Now it’s 40. A lot has changed since then. 15 years of marriage and 2 kids will do that to you. But a lot hasn’t. I still (mostly) feel like the wide-eyed kid that I recognize in my writing from back then. I still catch myself looking for elders to look up to sometimes–and then I realize that it might be me (which is a bit unnerving). And I still count Matt Mullenweg as one of my dearest friends.
Matt made me this blog, back when WordPress was just a wee idea in the heads of a few charming people: People whose idealism was so palpable that it would bring tears to your eyes. Now WordPress is a (still charming) behemoth that runs basically the whole internet. And Matt is 40–still writing things so beautiful that they make me cry–and still asking that I not waste this space, but use it to share beautiful things with the world.
And so, my friend, in honor of your birthday, I have written my first blog post in 15 years. I want to share a piece of poetry that I wrote when I was 17. I have never posted it anywhere before. It’s my present to you.
The Nightingale
When singing softly gentle songs of summer
I stop and listen to the nightingale
My voice dies out, for when compared to hers
Its colors always fade, its glories pale
And then with eyes to heaven, misty, rising
I see a swallow dart from leaf and tree
Working its carefree way, above, and over
‘Til she is far beyond the canopy.
And then I pray that I be like the swallow
With happy cry, though not a famed call
And ask that I may always this remember
She may fly high, who has no voice at all.
______
Happy birthday Matt. From me and Mike (who sent you a quip, and still wants to know if you think it was funny), and the kids. May you have all the happiness and peace and joy in the world–I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.