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,
But 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.

Chorus:

Ninety years without slumbering,
His life's seconds numbering.
But 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 all his grief and his joy.
Then it struck twenty-four, when he entered at the door.
With his blooming and beautiful bride.
Then it stopped, short, never to go again when the old man died.

Chorus

It rang an alarm in the dead of the night
An alarm that for years had been dumb.
Then we knew that his spirit was plumbing its flight
That his hour of departure had come.
But the clock kept its time with a soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by his side.
Then it stopped, short, never to go again when the old man died.