And a merchant said, "Speak to us of Buying and Selling." <br /> <br />And he answered and said: <br /> <br />To you the earth yields her fruit, and you shall not want if you but know how to fill your hands. <br /> <br />It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth that you shall find abundance and be satisfied. <br /> <br />Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice, it will but lead some to greed and others to hunger. <br /> <br />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, - <br /> <br />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. <br /> <br />And suffer not the barren-handed to take part in your transactions, who would sell their words for your labour. <br /> <br />To such men you should say, <br /> <br />"Come with us to the field, or go with our brothers to the sea and cast your net; <br /> <br />For the land and the sea shall be bountiful to you even as to us." <br /> <br />And if there come the singers and the dancers and the flute players, - buy of their gifts also. <br /> <br />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. <br /> <br />And before you leave the marketplace, see that no one has gone his way with empty hands. <br /> <br />For the master spirit of the earth shall not sleep peacefully upon the wind till the needs of the least of you are satisfied.<br /><br />Khalil Gibran<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/buying-and-selling-chapter-xi/
