Wednesday, March 28, 2007

THE POEM


WHEN I'M AN OLD WOMAN
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 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.
Jenny Joseph

10 comments:

BwcaBrownie said...

AMEN.

and Isn't it fantastic !

"and say we've no money for butter .."

JahTeh said...

I like the idea of spending my pension on booze instead of on the cat and I swear in the street, on the beaches, in the hills, in fact anywhere I please 'cus I'm old.

JahTeh said...

Ron, where have you been? I keep getting a page that tells me I'm looking at Apache instead of you.
And no, once is not enough according to stupid blogger, even on my own blog, it's at least twice before it lets me comment.

Lord Sedgwick said...

"And no, once is not enough according to stupid blogger, even on my own blog, it's at least twice before it lets me comment."

Crikey, I reckon Mr. Blogger should be given an OA, a peerage, a lookage or at the very least, a squintage.

Who or what else can make our soon to be sylph like Coppery one think twice before she gives someone and earful?!

Lord Sedgwick said...

... and I got ye olde secret eskimo handshake verification word, "unuiht".

Meredith Jones said...

yes indeed. I should try to do more of all those things. Especially the gobbling of samples.

Anonymous said...

Yeah I like that! Thanks alot, Tommorrow I'm going to be in town with a stick running it up railings for ******sake!
You are a bad influence old girl!

Zoe xxx

JahTeh said...

Meredith I had a friend who was like a sniffer dog where samples were concerned. She used to think it a wasted day if she couldn't free lunch it around Westfield.

I had a better one, 'fckwd'. Blogger's getting very creative or he's listening to us.

Zoe, have you ever whacked a stick against railings? It's okay on those aluminium things but get the real iron and the reverberations got up your arm for days er, um, so I'm told.

Middle Child said...

Wow, I read this ages ago and had lost track of it... so thanks...I think I'll spit upon a few sidewalks right now.

JahTeh said...

Don't waste it MC, wait til there's a politician coming towards you.