warning
putting the nerves into
the unnerving
golden years (john's lines)
warning -
do you want to be:
striking the remaining years
with a stick
along the public railing?
pressing the alarm bells
too late
in life?
an old woman
in purple with a red hat
which doesn't go?
spending pension
on brandy
and summer gloves?
and buttering a lie
you have not even money
for butter?
spending the retiring years
on pavement gobbling up
samples in shops?
perhaps memories of
youth will rain to comfort
the heart
like:
wearing slippers in
the rain to pick flowers
in neighbors' gardens
learning to spit
and wear terrible shirts
growing more fat
eating three pounds
of sausages
at a go
surviving on
only bread and pickle
for a week
hoarding pens and pencils
and beermats and things
in boxes
reality sets in now
to set a good example
for the children
to not swear in the street
clothes, rent, friends,
dinners and papers are prerequisites
a tall order - it's time
to practise
for the golden years
so people won't be
too shocked seeing an old woman
wearing purple
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem