Grandma's Grandfather's Clock

 Grandfather's Clock

My grandfather's clock was too tall for the shelf

So it stood ninety years on the floor

It was taller by half than the old man himself

But it weighed not a pennyweight more

It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born
It was always his treasure and pride
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

Ninety years without slumbering
Tic toc tic toc
His life's seconds numbering
Tic toc tic toc
It stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died.

In watching its pendulum swing to and fro
Many hours he had spent when a boy
And through childhood and manhood, the clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy

For it struck 24 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

CHORUS

My grandfather said that of those he could hire
Not a servant so faithful he'd found,
For it kept perfect time and it had one desire
At the close of each day to be wound

At it kept to its place, not a frown upon its face
At its hands never hung by its side
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

CHORUS

It rang an alarm in the still 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"

                             by Henry Clay Work

I do not know if Grandma's grandfather's clock came from her grandfather. I tend to doubt it but I do not know.

What I do know is that it was beautiful. The wooden frame always shone. The gold toned chains inside always sparkled. The hands on the face always told the correct time. Or course we were not allowed to touch it.

The clock needed to be wound once a week. Grandma opened the glass door in the front.  She pulled on those beautiful chains. Somehow that rewound it for another week. I was mesmerized. 

I am guessing that the clock was sold in the auction when they sold the farm. 

I often think of that magnificent clock. I hope it is still as loved as Grandma loved it.