And its hands never hung by its side
His life seconds numbering
It stopped short, never to go again
Ninety years without slumbering
It was taller by half than the old man himself
But it stopped short, never to go again
Ninety years without slumbering
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died
My grandfather said that of those he could hire
When the old man died
But it stopped, short never to go again
And was always his treasure and pride
And it kept in its place, not a frown upon its face
When the old man died
Still the clock kept the time with a soft and muffled chime
For it wasted no time and had but one desire
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born
When the old man died
It stopped, short never to go again
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more
His life seconds numbering
An alarm that for years had been dumb
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight
It rang and alarmed in the dead of the night
At the close of each week to be wound
As we silently stood by his side
Not a servant so faithful he found
That his hour for departure had come
