Two halls diverged in the PSB,
And sorry I could not travel both
Since be one grad student, no degree
Down one I needed to meet at three:
I’d made my PI a solemn oath;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it had coffee and food prepared;
Though as for that my meeting near
The thought of the choice filled me with shame,
And both that midday equally lay
With buff no step had trodden matte.
Oh, I kept the first for a slight delay!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted that I would be fast as that.
I shall be telling this with sour
In lab ages and ages hence:
Two halls diverged in my work, and I—
I took the one to coffee hour,
And that has made all the difference.
This post originally appeared in an email announcing the Cornell physics graduate student coffee hour.