Earlier this winter, while browsing through a book­shop, I came across an an­thol­ogy of poetry called ‘Learn by Heart Poetry - Verse to Enjoy and Cherish for Life,’ compiled by George Davidson. That book included a poem I had heard of, but not completely read before, called ‘Warning’ by Jenny Joseph (1932 - ).

The main theme of the poem is that a woman is wondering how she will live her life when she becomes old. The poem starts out with the fol­low­ing verse:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple,
With a red hat that doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.

The poem, and in particular the first verse, triggered a lot of questions in me about my life and how I am going to live it.

For example, am I considered ‘old’ at the age of 64?

When I was born in 1951, life expectancy for females in Canada was 71 years. A girl born in 2014, on the other hand, has a life expectancy of 84 years. This shows how much progress has been made in the field of medicine and in maintaining a safe and healthy lifestyle in general. And it is my impression that our ex­pec­ta­tions are increasing all of the time as to how long we will live, so, relatively speaking, I think many people would not consider a person in their sixties to be old.

Am I old in the sense of not having much time left on planet Earth?

Being very fortunate to be a myeloma survivor thus far, I still worry about whether the drugs I am currently on will be enough to hold the myeloma at bay. Despite the fact that I’m very hopeful about the progress that is being made in the treatment of multiple myeloma, I realize that the fact that I have this disease might have a negative effect on my life expectancy and that I may not live to hit the life expectancy for females in Canada.

But, then again, I also realize that serious illnesses and accidents may happen at any age, which brings me to my next question:

Is this a good time for me to become more unconventional and wear purple with a red hat, metaphorically speaking, or should I stick to the tried and true in my life?

I certainly feel less concerned about how people regard my choices than when I was younger, so I could be wearing more of the purple and red when I want to do that. Those two colors clash, so maybe that is an indication that I might become less reasonable too?

I also wondered why Jenny Joseph chose the color purple. Maybe at the time she wrote the poem it was considered to be an outrageous color to wear, but purple does contain the harmonies of calming blue and energizing red. So it could actually be a great color to have more of in my life!

Mostly, though, I have to admit that I find comfort in routines that have served me well throughout my life, such as traveling, singing with my choir, being in a needlework guild, and having differing exercise routines (walk­ing, cycling, gardening, swimming). And, since the beginning of the year, being a grandmother can be also added to the routine.

However, realizing that my future is more uncertain now than it was before my myeloma diagnosis, perhaps I should be following Joseph’s advice from the last verse of the poem:

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So that maybe people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.

I guess I could ease away from my usual routines and start wearing my purple suit with a red hat every once in a while now, so that people are not too shocked with my unconventional behavior when I’m really old.

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The quotation for this month is an excerpt from the poem 'Warning' by Jenny Joseph (1932 - ), an English poet: “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple.”