Warning
By Jenny Joseph
- When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
- With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me,
- And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
- And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
- I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
- And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
- And run my stick along the public railings
- And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
- I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
- And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
- And learn to spit.
- You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
- And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
- Or only bread and a pickle for a week
- And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
- But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
- And pay our rent and not swear in the street
- And set a good example for the children.
- We will have friends to dinner and read the papers.
- But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
- So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
- When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.