Doddering through the outskirts of a seat
Of learning, the old codger is bemused.

These buildings and redoubts of burnished brick
Are not congruent with his imagining
Of sandstone that is more than just a trick
Of memory. This he has culled from years
Of visiting the place.
                                    And yet this misfit
Gels with empty pockets that provoke
Another worry — how to pay the bus
Fare to get home. He gazes to his right
And sees idyllic pastures and still waters
And wonders why he should need any cash,
Since he came by car, a thought that drags
Unwelcome knowledge from below now troubled
Waters: doctor Iqbal has forbidden him to drive!

Bamboozled yet again he trudges on
And wonders if there'll be one more surprise.
No sooner thought than done: a vehicle
Slows down beside him, the driver leans
Towards him, offers him a lift
              To Castle Hedingham.

"Ah," he sighs, "this Cambridge cannot be
In Massachusetts. Yet it's hardly Cambridge,
                          England!