Red Hats : What Do They Mean?
Below
you will find the poem
that started all the fuss.
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
We must have friends to dinner
and read the papers
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
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.
by
Jenny Joseph
This
webpage was created to celebrate the graceful aging of Marilyn Acree on the anniversary of
her birth.
Created on November 21, 2003. |
