diff --git a/templates/zephyr/index.html b/templates/zephyr/index.html
index 5a33ad9f16..48c532e06d 100644
--- a/templates/zephyr/index.html
+++ b/templates/zephyr/index.html
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ var people_list = {{ people }};
             </div>
             <div id="bottom_whitespace"></div>
           </div>
-    <div class="tabbable container zephyr_compose">
+    <div class="tabbable container zephyr_compose" id="zephyr_compose">
         <ul class="nav nav-tabs" id="zephyr-type-tabs">
             <li class="active"><a href="#class-message" data-toggle="tab">Stream</a></li>
             <li><a href="#personal-message" data-toggle="tab">Huddle</a></li>
diff --git a/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js b/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js
index 51793989e2..2d4b7c9a42 100644
--- a/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js
+++ b/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ $(function () {
                        .text('Sent message')
                        .stop(true).fadeTo(0,1).delay(1000).fadeOut(1000);
             buttons.removeAttr('disabled');
+            clear_compose_box();
         },
         error: function (xhr) {
             var response = "Error sending message";
@@ -557,6 +558,10 @@ $(function () {
     get_updates_longpoll();
 });
 
+function clear_compose_box() {
+    $("#zephyr_compose").find('input[type=text], textarea').val('');
+}
+
 var longpoll_failures = 0;
 function get_updates_longpoll() {
     console.log(new Date() + ': longpoll started');