I LOVE this poem!
Warning
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 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.
Beware I am already wearing a lot of purple!!!!
LOVE it!!! I am half way there already, Fran....I'll leave you to guess which half, but the clue is in the behaviour :-)
ReplyDeleteAwesome :)
ReplyDeleteI love the colour purple and wear it a LOT!
I also wear my slippers outside in the rain. (tend to forget they are on my feet - oops!!)
You are never too young to become an ageing reprobate and have lots of fun by tormenting the prim, proper and politically correct morons of today's society.
ReplyDeleteSock it to 'em is my motto
Ageing reprobates unite! And "sock it to 'em" is an excellent motto.
ReplyDeleteI love that poem, too.
I wore purple when I was younger, when everyone expected me to do the unexpected. Now I wear black and brown and beige, because I think they make me look slim again. (It's okay to be delusional now.)
Happy New Year, Fran, to you and yours.
K
And I've got a beermat collection in the loft.
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
xx
Don't women from the Red Hat Society wear purple with red hats? Maybe this poem was part of how the group started. I see on their website they will be in the London New Years Parade. Sound like women of your own heart. - Margy
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I have loved this poem for years and often talk about it! I have always been a tad eccentric so a lot of the things have always applied and I have always thought that you should not wait to get old to express your true self! It's true though you get away with more if you are old! Happy New Year to all!
ReplyDeleteoh flipping heck I seem to be wearing more and more purple nowadays, plus my favourite colour is red.......
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder!!
Gill
Oh I am so glad that we are all going to grow older disgracefully, that'll give the kids something to moan about!!
ReplyDeleteHappy new year, dear Fran!! Let's make this another disgraceful year in blogdom xxx
ReplyDeleteGreat Purple Ronnie Poem. I remember it well.
ReplyDeleteSft x