What is the effect of envisioning “aged years” as needing a staff in these lines from the passage?

by that time will my aged years
perhaps a staff require:
a.
it evokes the comfort that the elderly feel knowing that a younger generation will replace them.
b.
it reminds the reader that the speaker will be aged by the time she can see the youths as adults.
c.
it suggests that the speaker feels distant and isolated from the young people of her time.
d.
it reveals how weary the speaker is of waiting to see what effect she might have had on others.

to her sister mistress a. b.
by isabella whitney (excerpt)

and grant if that my luck it be
to linger here so long
till they be men, that i may see
for learning them so strong
that they may march amongst the best
of them which learning have possest.

by that time will my aged years
perhaps a staff require:
and quakingly as still in fears
my limbs draw to the fire:
yet joy i shall them so to see,
if any joy in age there be.

Read the excerpts from part 3 of "an occurrence at owl creek bridge." a rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him! the cannon had taken a hand in the game. as he shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in the forest beyond. *** a whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream. the baffled cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. he sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest. *** as he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence! what function does the motif of the cannon serve throughout the story? the cannon continually pushes farquhar to continue his journey through his dream and back to reality. the cannon encourages farquhar to investigate whether his escape was a dream or reality. the cannon reminds farquhar that time is subjective and encourages him to move quickly in order to reach his home. the cannon represents farquhar’s romantic dream that he escaped his execution and will return home.