Periodic Poetry Post - 9 June 2005

[Mephisto2]

Here's another of my favourite poems. I very much enjoy poetry and like sharing my own, sometimes eclectic taste with you.

This poem is about growing old.


Warning! by Jenny Joseph

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 peoples' 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 pickles 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.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

This strikes me as both poignant and yet amusing. We all know "crazy old women" but it's strange to consider the idea of actually becoming one. I like this poem. We all grow old. We all change. We all act differently as our minds slowly degenerate and the world changes, sometimes intimidatingly, before us... But these simple lines somehow make me feel nice. The march of time is good. Old is good. Purple is good...


Mr Mephisto

[Elphaba]

That poem became the start of the Red Hat Society. I'm a member.