An Old Woman Can Wear Purple On Her Birthday If She Wants To

The thing I love most about Independence Day is that everyone, whether from a red state or a blue, can find common ground in celebrating the line in the sand drawn by those courageous visionaries in Philadelphia that July day in 1776. If you've never read this document in its entirety, here it is. It is a thing of beauty: brief and to the point, listing the crimes committed by their Sovereign, King George III, and informing him that they refuse to be associated with him any longer. And then they signed it.

How extraordinary is that?

Hey, America? Happy 235th birthday. I must say, today you look lovely in purple:

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

By Jenny Joseph

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.