The following was contributed by a reader who has asked to remain anonymous. Many thanks — and apologies — to William Shakespeare.
Let me not to the supply of demand
Admit impediments; trade is not trade
Which alters as politics commands,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is a value-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Trade’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come.
Value alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never gave fair price for full value.