When I am old

mercredi 10 septembre 2014
par Me Esse

A poem 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 sandals,
- 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 pickle for a week,
- And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats
- 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 will 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 !

Jenny Joseph


Navigation

Articles de la rubrique