When I am world dictator, I am going to destroy every fucking copy of....

[Hakluyt]

.......that fucking poem about being an old woman and wearing purple.

[TheSarcasticFringehead]

What's the poem? I've never heard it before. Do I want to?

[Enb76]

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

:)

[TheSarcasticFringehead]

I wear purple now. I think I'm officially old then

[meringue33]

What's wrong with it? I think it's lovely

[tabithajute]

May we ask why?

I'd never read it before, but I really like it. All about the importance of rebelling against conformity and the importance of doing it now - not waiting until we are old.

What's not to like about that?

[TheTerribleBaroness]

It's a terrible poem. It doesn't even rhyme.

[IrenetheQuaint]

I thought you were going to say every copy of 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'. I'd totally man the bonfire for that.

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

It always makes me smile, it reminds me of my wonderful eccentric DMIL, who didn't believe getting older meant becoming boring and respectable

She always promised to infect her grandchildren with a bit of wildness then hand them back to their poor parents to calm down. She never got the chance, she died suddenly, on a wildlife holiday .