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 penny-weight more.

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

And was always his treasure and pride

But it stopped short, never to go again

When the old man died.

 

Chorus: Ninety years without slumbering,

Tick, tock, tick, tock,

His life seconds numbering,

Tick, tock, tick, tock,

It stopped short, never to go again

When the old man died.

 

In watching its pendulum swing to and fro,

Many hours he spent while a boy;

And 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 blooming and beautiful bride;

But it stopped short, never to go again

When the old man died.

 

My grandfather said of those that 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.