Battle Hymn of Aging

I picked up one of my favorite books this week and unexpectedly found a long-forgotten piece of verse neatly folded inside the back cover. The book was A theology of Aging by my favorite professor of Biblical Theology while at Southwestern Seminary years ago. I have long-forgotten where it came from and have no idea who wrote it.

Now that I am somewhere beyond the 65 mile-marker, I occasionally feel like the bent tree shown above. The following bit of doggerel catches a spirit I want to maintain, so I share it with you for whatever use you might find for it. I passed it out in our Wednesday night group at church.

The lyrics are written to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It sings easily,recalling a significant time in the lives of some of us. I like the determined spirit of the lyrics … As we go marching on …

For whatever value it may have to a reader, I offer it here FWIW, as the BATTLE HYMN OF AGING:

We reach the age of 65,
Our golden years are here;
They tell us that the age begins
A happy new career;
For now our Uncle Sam becomes
Our permanent cashier,
As we go marching on!

Our Social Security
From Baltimore is sent;
We buy a little bit of food,
And maybe pay the rent;
And after that we’re stoney broke,
And left without a cent,
But we go bravely on!

And as for checks from medicare,
Will someone tell us how,
They always find some doctor bills,
They sadly disallow;
And dental cost, as we all know,
They wholly disallow,
But we go bravely on!

We don’t know how we make it
As we live from day to day;
With income fixed and prices up,
There’s always more to pay;
So minding our arthritis,
Let’s get on our knees and pray,
That we’ll go bravely on!

And first of all, let’s thank the Lord
That we are still alive;
The dreams we have may still come true
When we are ninety-five;
So please Dear Lord, give us the strength,
Our troubles to survive,
As we go bravely on!

From Warner’s World,
as I take my spouse to our all-church BLESSINGS BANQUET this evening;
know that my interactions with you who pass by this blogsite are one of the great blessings of my life …
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com