This poem was used to start The Red Hat Society. It is a club for women over 50 and we have a ball.When you get to be 50 check it out.

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 a 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 will 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.

~ Jenny Joseph ~

I like that!

I wear a pink hat!
And sport a powerful gat.
But not really
As I have a metal bat.
That'll make the marsupial rat,
go splat!

That's nice. Now, go sit down and be a good little boy and take your medicine.

Nice poem. I'll admit though. Nothing is scarier in a small town than being at the coffee shop and there is nothing but a see of older women wearing red and purple. I just felt so out of sorts.