A Small Market Between Towns

There’s a small market where the soul is fed,

where love hears truth and strives,

 and another town that produces lies

that degrade and starve love.

Your voice is a small market

set up between the two towns.

Goods arrive from both directions,

flimsy, fake items and honestly made,

wholehearted tools and wares.

Some travelers immediately know

which is which.

Some voices open a shop

and spent sixty years

cheating customers,

gossiping when they leave,

and flattering women

to get their attention.

Others weary of the marketplace

leave altogether and rarely go there.

~Rumi