The Best (Anonymous) Poem in English, Ever.
Glitch BottleJan 30, 2026
Roughly 400 years ago, an anonymous 'bedlamite', a beggar released from London's notorious Bethlem asylum, may have written one of the most haunting poems in the English language. 'Tom O'Bedlam's Song' blends madness, moon-worship, astrological visions, and spectral journeys into an incantatory chant meant to be memorized and recited aloud. This episode dives into the poem's strange imagery, from the 'Book of Moons' to the 'knight of ghosts and shadows,' and explores why it still casts a spell centuries later.
