Arrival in Cambridge

Emerging from an edge of past to the broad

Surety of place, the lover of new streets,

Betokening new breathing, change of face,

Smiles to himself within each footstep, sees

His home in every eye and house.

The unknown makes its promise quietly,

At dingy corners, seeking to belie,

By subtle means, all foreknown waste of hearts

And tongues: stressing the texture of it, not

The shape; the flavor, not the cost.

At some unlooked-for turning, there intrudes

A cleaner outline. Now he knows the town,

With all its loping boys at noon, and then,

At tea, its white-haired virgins chasing gods

And cats in green and harmful yards.