by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Tom o' Bedlam
Language: English
From the hagg and hungrie goblin that into rags would rend ye, And 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 yourselves with Tom abroad to beg your bacon. While I doe sing, "Any food, any feeding, Feeding, drink and clothing." Come dame or maid, be not afraid, Poor Tom will injure nothing. Of thirty bare years have I twice twenty bin enragèd, And of forty bin three times fifteene in durance soundly cagèd. On the lordlie loftes of Bedlem, with stubble softe and dainty, Brave bracelets strong, sweet whips ding-dong, and wholesome hunger plenty, And nowe I sing, "Any food, any feeding, Feeding, drink and clothing." Come dame or maid, be not afraid, Poor Tom will injure nothing. When I short have shorne my sowre face and swigg'd my oaken barrel, in an oaken inn I pound my skin in a suit of gilt apparell. The moon's my constant mistresse, And the [lowlie owle]1 my marrowe; The flaming Drake and the night-crowe make me music to my sorrowe. While I doe sing, "Any food, any feeding, Feeding, drink and clothing." Come dame or maid, be not afraid, Poor Tom will injure nothing. I know more than Apollo, for oft when he lies sleeping I [see]2 the stars at [bloody]3 wars [in the wounded]4 welkin weeping; The moone [embrace]5 her shepheard, And the Queen of love her warryor. While the first [doth borne the star of morne]6, And the next the heavenly Farrier. While I doe sing, "Any food, any feeding, Feeding, drink and clothing." Come dame or maid, be not afraid, Poor Tom will injure nothing. The Gypsie Snap and Pedro, are none of Tom's comradoes, The punk I scorn and the cutpurse sworn, and the roaring boy's bravadoe. The meeke, the white, the gentle, Me handle, touch, and spare not, But those that crosse Tom Rynosseros Doe what the panther dare not. Although I sing, "Any food, any feeding, Feeding, drink and clothing." Come dame or maid, be not afraid, Poor Tom will injure nothing. With an [host]7 of furious fancies, whereof I am commander, With a burning spear and a horse of air, to the wilderness I wander. [By]8 a knight of ghostes and shadows I summoned am to tourney. Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end. [Me thinke]9 it is no journey. Yet will I sing, "Any food, any feeding, Feeding, drink and clothing." Come dame or maid, be not afraid, Poor Tom will injure nothing.
C. Gibbs sets stanzas 8, 10-11, 16-17
1 Gibbs: "lovely owl's"
2 Gibbs: "behold"
3 Gibbs: "mortal"
4 Gibbs: "and the rounded"
5 Gibbs: "embraces"
6 Gibbs: "does horn the stars of the morn"
7 Gibbs: "heart"
8 Gibbs: "With"
9 Gibbs: "Methinks"
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Richard Rodney Bennett (1936 - 2012), "Tom O'Bedlam", 1961 [tenor and cello], confirmed with a CD booklet [ sung text verified 1 time]
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "Tom o' Bedlam", 1934, stanzas 8,10-11,16-17. [ sung text verified 1 time]
Research team for this page: Ted Perry , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 84
Word count: 430