Cornish Sonnet III

He tells me he's bought that copy of 'The Struggle
For Mastery in Europe' with the handwritten letter
from A. J. P. Taylor, sniggled, viceregal,
inside, still enveloped, the size of a cassette.
A reply to the book's first owner on butter-
coloured leaf, and beginning with a straight,
"Yes, you are right," then handwriting like
chewed tape. It's been in the bookshop for years.
He pondered the purchase each time he went back,
never infrugal enough, til this Autumn.
Time-capsuled radical - putting the hours
back, you cradle the treasure-hunk of time-
coloured leaf, and beginning with a straight
back, you cradle the treasure-hunk of time.