The Best (Anonymous) Poem in English, Ever.

400 years ago, a brazenly braggadocious begging ‘bedlamite’ possibly penned a poem so incantatorily-poignant, so wonder-woundedly-written, so symmetrically and cognitively bruising, that it demands to be memorized and chanted aloud. Let's dive into the song of Tom O'Bedlam.

⇓ ⇓ ⇓

Tom O'Bedlam's Song

I. From the hag and hungry goblin

That into rags would rend ye,

The spirit that stands by the naked man

In the Book of Moons defend ye,

That of your five sound senses

You never be forsaken,

Nor wander from your selves with Tom Abroad to beg your bacon,

While I do sing, Any food, any feeding,

Feeding, drink, or clothing;