Member Poem

In this moment, you rekindle
The ghosts of past conversations,
Which floated up to the rafters in the East Dining room
Long before us.
Decades ago, supported by the oak-beamed structure,
Students conspired with professors
Attempting to derive solutions
In suits,
Over steak dinners,
Faded whispers enveloping the evening.
And for years the incomplete propositions hung over collegiate diners
Like a suspended layer of dust,
Discontented spirits awaiting their liberator.
But now, when you speak to me,
Hunched over the table,
Your foot tapping your chair sinusoidally,
The evening light caresses your musings.
As you gesture, mapping out the dimensions,
You resume the long-abandoned project
Begun under this Gothic roof
Generations before.
And your thoughts, too, rise up to the rafters
Awakening their elders from their near-century-long slumber,
Till together they fasten, in harmony,
Forming the long-desired solution,
Then descending down to the tables
To rest on your fingertips.