When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that 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 fat
And eat three pounds of sausage at a go
Or only bread and 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 must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
And maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So that people who know me are not shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Jenny Joseph
b 1932, England
Maybe life isn’t always about doing the things we think we ought to do, the things that we think are the right things to do. Lets live a little and enjoy ourselves
