When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple.

It's a declaration of defiance, vividly and clearly expressed. Appealing to the rebel in all of us as we secretly learn to throw of the shackles of propriety and enjoy the freedom of cocking a hoot at the rest of the world.
The poem tells of a respectable middle-aged woman, as she indulges in her fantasy of a grabby old crone with her outrageous clothes and dotty behaviour.As follows :-

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple.
By Jenny Joseph

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 candles, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am 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 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.