Red Hat, Anyone?

 

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
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.

 

 

I am considering founding a chapter of the Red Hat Society.  I've been suffering from "Red Hat Envy" for years.  Now that I've reached that "Certain Age," I can stop coveting those marvelous chapeaux and don one of my own.  Anyone interested?

***The poem is"Warning" by Jenny Jones.  The red hats are all available at the Red Hat Society Website.