Tennessee Claflin Shope by Edgar Lee Masters

I 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!