Hi. I hope your day is progressing in a positive way. Here's a poem I ran across years ago. It keeps me sane when everyone keeps saying "You should do this..." or "That's not proper in public."

WARNING

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 sandles, 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 public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in the slippers in my 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 sausage 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 must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So that people who know me are not too shocked and surprized
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Jenny Joseph
Robert | 07.26.04 - 11:16 pm | #