Table Versus Clock

(My poor attempts at poetry, part 13 -not an exact count- done as an assignment with my students this week) The assignment- "Write about something that matters to you right now."
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Solid and rectangular
We gather around you.
The melodic clatter of forks, plates and glasses
is punctuated by fits of laughter-
symphonic resonance.
Tears soak into napkins, discarded
on your surface.

You support the weight of empty
plates, full hearts, sadness and joy.
You are the foundation
of elbows that support fists on temples
of heads that contain minds
that give voice to words
that change the world
of the women who gather around you.

A clock on the wall bears silent
forboding witness to the beauty,
genius and fortitude that you
are privvy to on this night.

Rank and file hands march steadily onward
mocking this masterpiece.
There is nowhere to run from your force.

Table versus Clock: the two are at war.
But memory of beauty triumphs over
time.
To you, o clock, I say- "Do your worst!"
Our memories are keen
And the table will see us again.