My Grandfather's Clock

My grandfather's clock was too tall for its 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 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
Tick tock, tick tock
Its life seconds numbering
Tick tock, tick tock
But it stopped
Short
Never to go again
When the old man died*

In watching its pendulum swing to and fro
Many hours did he spend as a boy
And in childhood and manhood the clock seemed to know
And to share all his grief and his joy
For it struck 24 when he entered at the door
With a blooming and beautiful bride

*Chorus*

My grandfather said that of those that he could hire
Not a servant more faithful he found
For it wasted no time and had but one desire
At the close of each day to be wound
And it kept in its place not a frown upon it face
And its hands never hung by its sides

*Chorus*

It rang in alarm in the dead of the night
And alarm that for years had been dumb
And we knew that his spirit was plumbing its flight
That his hour of departure had come
Still the clock kept its time with a soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by his side

*Chorus*