Warning by Jenny Joseph
Warning
Jenny JosephWhen 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
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 practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Warning: When I am an Old Woman I shall wear purple by Jenny Joseph, published by Souvenir Press, 2001. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“Voted Britain’s best-loved poem by viewers of BBC TV’s Bookworm, this perennial favorite with its declaration of defiance against convention appeals to all those with a secret desire to throw off the strictures of propriety and set out deliberately to shock and be outrageous. It sums up this wish perfectly with its pronouncement: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/With a red hat that doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me/I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired/And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells.” Reprinted here as a gift book with line drawings by Pythia Ashton-Jewell, this edition of the classic is ideal both for those who know and love the poem and for those who have yet to relish its gleeful anticipation.” (Source)
ABOUT JENNY JOSEPH
Jenny Joseph (b. 1932 – d. 2018) was originally from Birmingham but her first remembered home was in leafy Buckinghamshire. She read English at St Hilda’s College Oxford. A variety of occupations included being a newspaper reporter, lecturer in language and literature and landlady of a London pub. Her poems were first published when she was at university at the beginning of the 1950’s, her first book, The Unlooked-for Season, appearing in 1960. This collection won a Gregory Award… (more)
Read more poems by Jenny Joseph • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: aging • identity • rebellion • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
