Two views of old age

I've been clearing out my loft today and came across a book called Portraits of Poets, published by Carcanet in 1986. It's a superb book, featuring a collection of stunning black and white photos of famous and lesser-known poets, accompanied by a single poem from each person. Flicking through it, two particular contributions caught my eye. The first is a consoling view of the ageing process by Elma Mitchell, pictured below:

Click on the poem to enlarge

In contrast, there is the tragic figure of Paul Potts...