...When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
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 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.
- Stevie Smith
And in all honesty, old souls are good at being old..I have a theory that the signs of Pisces, Scorpio, Ophiuchus and Sagittarius are the oldest souls.
I have always looked forward to this. I will never feel old in my mind or body. I am very young at heart. I will feel 'old' in my soul.
I walked up the long staircase, spiral and straight, after the beach. A couple (in, guess, their twenties were just struggling to make the top. I over took them "Come on, now, you are half my age.....get to the top", they laughed, nervously. "I probably have twice the muscles though"..I laughed.
Internal dialogue "...And I've been flexing these since the first time I had to fight for my life, aged 19"....which would have been far too much information. I went along my merry way, back to my car for a beautiful drive home. Road confidence well and truly back.
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