• When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
• ith 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!