'She's talking to that mirror again, farther?' says Misst Craddock. Father Cradock turns round slowly from the book he is eating and explains that it is just a face she is going through and they're all the same at that age.
Friday, September 21, 2012
What's not to like about purple?*
PURPLE REIGN!
Bonus purple in this Passion Flower which is not currently in bloom.
*First there was pink. Now there is purple. Someone find me a purple luggage tag.
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which 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 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 the 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.
Jenny Joseph (1932-) in The Macmillan Treasury of Poetry for Children (London: Macmillan Children's Books, 1997)
Nice! :)
ReplyDelete'Empurple' is one of the prettier verbs in the English language.
ReplyDeleteAs for purple the hue, just an aristocratic version of blue.
Banno: And you are on a posting roll! Love it.
ReplyDeleteCat: Me, I like 'incarnadine'. Maybe I should choose a new favourite colour. Or maybe no need, seeing as purple is also red (and not just blue!).
Ah, I forgot:
ReplyDelete"I never saw a purple cow.
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one."
-- Gelett Burgess
As for me, I'm always seeing red, but that's because I wear rose-tinted glasses.
Warning
ReplyDeleteWhen I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which 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 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 the 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.
Jenny Joseph (1932-) in The Macmillan Treasury of Poetry for Children (London: Macmillan Children's Books, 1997)