Buying & Selling
And a merchant said, "Speak to us of Buying and Selling."And he answered and said:
To you the earth yields her fruit, and you
shall not want if you but know how to fill
your hands.
It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth
that you shall find abundance and be satisfied.
Yet unless the exchange be in love and
kindly justice, it will but lead some to greed
and others to hunger.
When in the market place you toilers of
the sea and fields and vineyards meet the
weavers and the potters and the gatherers of
spices, ---
Invoke then the master spirit of the earth,
to come into your midst and sanctify the
scales and the reckoning that weighs value
against value.
And suffer not the barren-handed to take
part in your transactions, who would sell
their words for your labour.
To such men you should say,
"Come with us to the field, or go with
our brothers to the sea and cast your net;
For the land and the sea shall be bountiful
to you even as to us."
And if there come the singers and the
dancers and the flute players, - buy of their
gifts also.
For they too are gatherers of fruit and
frankincense, and that which they bring,
though fashioned of dreams, is raiment
and food for your soul.
And before you leave the marketplace,
see that no one has gone his way with
empty hands.
For the master spirit of the earth shall
not sleep peacefully upon the wind till the
needs of the least of you are satisfied.
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