do you know of any songs or poems about determination/and or old age???

Question

thanks

Answer 1

I would go to the library or search online for Emily Dickinson or Langston Hughes, who wrote many short poems, often organized by topic.
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Emily Dickinson
December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 't is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity

Songs: I searched online for "lyrics, old age"
and found listings for Old Age by Nirvana and these 2 song:

* Old Age by Dolour

Old age barks louder everyday
an old woman’s hands press lightly on my face
what’s she want with such a little boy, with hands so cold?
youth keeps right on growing old

Is medicine all I need right now?
to quiet the storm my brain makes
If living my life, as time goes by..
Quietly takes your place
Is love really such a mystery?
will love set us free from all the grand-daddy clocks
shaking their fingers at me?
of all the kisses
why’d your lips have to turn so cold?
of all the heartbreaks
Why'd you have to go?

Is medicine all I need right now?
to quiet the storm my brain makes
If living my life, as time goes by..
Quietly takes your place.


* Hole
Old Age

And I will await your highness
I'm so high I cannot walk
And I will await
You cripple
You take away my pride
My peace, my empathy
No babies sleep on atrophy
Your unborn love and fetal stress
Hard bitter candy, legless caress

What was she for Halloween?
The ugliest girl you've ever seen
Someday she will die alone

What was she for Valentine's?
An old forgotten concubine
Someday she will die for no one

She seems to me to know
All that glitters is sour
All the lies in her place
Jesus saves
Old age
Old age
Old age

It's okay to kill your idols
Just pretend you have no rivals
We all know that she is friendless

Spits at mirrors; it's not an issue
Just remove the hateful tissues
We all know her rage is endless

She seems to me to know
All that glitters is sour
All the lies in her place
Jesus saves
Old age
Old age
Old age
Old age

And then she begs and she says "Pretty please?
I'll make her pure again; I'll make her clean"

No one knows she's Hester Prynne
Someone please tell Anne Boleyn
Chokers are back in again

Someday she won't have to fake it
Living will itself seem sacred
Someday she will just refuse

She seems to me to know
All that glitters is sour
All the lies in her place
Jesus saves
Old age
Old age
Old age
Jesus saves
Old age

(Rest in pieces) I'm sorry
(Me in pieces) So sorry
(Rest in pieces) I'm sorry
(Me in pieces) So sorry

Answer 2

WHEN I GROW OLD...


When I grow old
I'd like to think
I'll wear a bandana
No wig for me
Cradled by my rocker
Sipping my tea
As you can see
I have my dreams of dignity

This may mean I'll lose my mind--
Perhaps I'll not be rocking
Rather chugging wine
And dancing crazy two steps
I wouldn't mind
As you can see
I have my dreams of dignity

Or strolling the streets
with purse in my hand
I will be naked and singing
To an imaginary band
I will not fret
I'll have no need for sympathy
As you can see
I have my dreams of dignity.

It may not matter
Where I sit or go
Rocking,
Dancing,
Strolling,
So?
I have my age,
My bliss,
My self,
You see--
I have my dreams of dignity.

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each age...


The withered face like an autumn leaf--
Dry and fragile.

Each age wrapped around her like another
Layer of onion skin.

Embedded in her--the essence of youth,
Alive and glowing . . .

Trapped for all time? Not lost!
But only she can feel its sensuousness.

She remembers her wedding night,
But not what she had for lunch today.

This being old is a tricky thing. It can
Be done well, or so very badly.

She sees herself running to the end of the hall--
Chasing a red dog . . .

A scared little girl-old woman seeks
Nurturing and love.

A strong middle-aged-old woman seeks
Respect and responsibility.

The essence of youth is untarnished.
It surges lustily against stiff joints.

Old age does not compromise. It as with her
In youth--as surely as youth is in old age.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Old Age Gets Up

Stirs its ashes and embers, its burnt sticks

An eye powdered over, half melted and solid again
Ponders
Ideas that collapse
At the first touch of attention

The light at the window, so square and so same
So full-strong as ever, the window frame
A scaffold in space, for eyes to lean on

Supporting the body, shaped to its old work
Making small movements in gray air
Numbed from the blurred accident
Of having lived, the fatal, real injury
Under the amnesia

Something tries to save itself-searches
For defenses-but words evade
Like flies with their own notions

Old age slowly gets dressed
Heavily dosed with death's night
Sits on the bed's edge

Pulls its pieces together
Loosely tucks in its shirt

Ted Hughes