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 pennyweight 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 seconds numbering

It stopped short
Never to go again
When the old man died

In watching its pendulum
Swing to and fro
Many hours had he spent while a boy
In childhood and manhood
The clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy
For it struck twenty-four
When he entered at the door
With a blushing and beautiful bride
But it stopped short
Never to go again
When the old man died

It rang an alarm
In the dead of the night
An alarm that for years had been dumb
And we knew that his spirit
Was pluming it's flight
That his hour of 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