free-verse15 lines
Tennessee Claflin Shope
by Edgar Lee MastersI was the laughing-stock of the village,
Chiefly of the people of good sense, as they call themselves -
Also of the learned, like Rev. Peet, who read Greek
The same as English.
For instead of talking free trade,
Or preaching some form of baptism;
Instead of believing in the efficacy
Of walking cracks, picking up pins the right way,
Seeing the new moon over the right shoulder,
Or curing rheumatism with blue glass,
I asserted the sovereignty of my own soul.
Before Mary Baker G. Eddy even got started
With what she called science I had mastered the "Bhagavad Gita,"
And cured my soul, before Mary Began to cure bodies with souls -
Peace to all worlds!