Buying and Selling by Thomas Burke — Read

Throughout the day I sit behind the counter of my shop / And the odours of my country are all about me -- / Areca nut, and betel leaf, and manioc, / Lychee and suey sen, / Li-un and dried seaweed, / Tchah and sam-shu; / And these carry my mind to half-forgotten days / When tales were plentiful and care was hard to hold.

All day I sell for trifling sums the wares of my own land, / And buy for many cash such things as people wish to sell, / That I may sell them again to others, / With some profit to myself.

One night a white-skinned damsel came to me / And offered, with fair words, something she wished to sell.

Now if I desire a jacket I can buy it with coin, / Or barter for it something of my stock. / If I desire rice-spirit, that, too, I can buy; / And elegant entertainments and delights are all to be had for cash.

But there is one good thing above all precious, / That no man may buy. / And though I buy readily most things that I desire, / This thing that the white maid offered at my own price / I would not buy.