Red Hat

My mother wanted to find this poem but she didn't know what it was called, so I looked for it and when I found it, I printed it on the insert inside the card. The hat is fussy-cut from a photo, mounted on 3D foam pads on top of the purple frame, which is decorated with organza bows and punched flowers with brad centres. The text is computer-generated, and then swiped with a purple ink pad, direct to paper.

The poem is called 'Warning', and is by Jenny Joseph.

WARNING

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 candles, 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 pickles for a week,
And hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts 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.

Jenny Joseph