My Grandfather's Clock

My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf

So it stood ninety years on the floor

It was taller by half than the old man himself

Though it weighed not a penniweight more

It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born

And was always his treasure and pride

But it stopped short never to go again when the old man died

Ninety years without slumbering his life second's numbering

It stopped short never to go again when the old man died

My grandfather said that of those he could hire

Not a servant so faithful he found

For it wasted no time and had but one desire

At the close of each week to be wound

And it kept in its place not a frown upon its face

And its hands never hung by its side

But it stopped short never to go again when the old man died

It rang and alarmed in the dead of the night

An alarm that for years had been dumb

And we knew that his spirit was plumbing for flight

That his hour for departure had come

Still the clock kept the time with a soft and muffled chime

As we silently stood by his side

But it stopped short never to go again when the old man died

Ninety years without slumbering...