Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GRANDFATHER'S CLOCK, by HENRY CLAY WORK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GRANDFATHER'S CLOCK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf
Last Line: When the old man died.
Subject(s): Clocks; Time


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 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, tick, tick, tick.
His life seconds numbering --
Tick, tick, tick, tick.
It stopped short -- never to go again --
When the old man died.

In 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 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 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.

It rang an alarm in the dead of night --
An alarm that for years had been dumb.
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight,
That his hour for 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.





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