"Warning", Jenny Joseph.

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which 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'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 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.

Right from the title the author is anticipating the tone of the poem. The speaker is going to express her opinion on something that could be controversial. The speaker is a middle aged woman complaining about how society sees old people. She says that she’ll loose all her fashion sense and she will pick flowers at other people's houses and all older people’s cliché. In short, that she will become boring. However, in the third verse she states that adults have to be a good example for children and they have to live a lay down life. I think this is a truly sarcastic poem because the author express the freedom of old people to do whatever they want with the excuse of 'hey, I'm old', but all this stuff that they do is usually tedious. Meanwhile young people have to be very responsible with what they do. Therefore they don't enjoy life at its fullest. So... both ways you will be disappointed and to avoid this you should do anything you want when you want it without thinking of what otther people would say about you.