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
Tick, tock, tick, tock
His life seconds numbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock
It stopped short
Never to go again
When the old man died


It watching its pendulum
Swing to and fro
Many hours had 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


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


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 for 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


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