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!

Refrain
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

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 in the door 
With a blooming and beautiful bride
But it stopped short never to go again 
  when the old man died
(repeat Refrain)

My grandfather said that 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 on its face not a frown upon its face
And its hand never hung by its side
But it stopped short never to go again 
  when the old man died
(repeat Refrain)

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 his flight
  –that the hour of departure had come
But the clock kept the time 
  with its soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by his side
But it stopped short never to go again 
  when the old man died
(repeat Refrain)