Old Grandfather Clock or the Clockmakers’

Oh! Grandfather Clock, your hymns shallowed

with times’ passage.

Oh! The people you’ve seen;

children, joyfully caroling.

The adults, tea and conversing.

Have you herd?

The sweet birds mating whistle?

Have you herd a Shakespeare sonnet?

A Mozart quintet?

Or the Lyrical Ballads?

From days onward, to those who’ve past,

a shadow you never overcast.

At lunch you hear the maid

feeding the young miss.

Or the lady spoon her soup.

Or the girl with dolls and horses.

It is every morning that you yearn

for the maiden to look at thee.

You once brimmed to show the time,

you translated the sun and the moon.

Alas! No one else could!

You’ve seen the maiden’s father,

and his father when they were boys.

But now your ticks are slow,

your arms do not hold.

Oh! Breathe you do!

You strive every tick,

but there isn’t heart anymore.

Is your time no more?

The maiden hast sent you to a clockmakers.

Rest yea’ole grandfather clock.

Times are a script;

the things you herd,

the joys you gave.

Someone will take your place,

as you once did someone else.

Your tick was reverend by dozens,

as much as it was grieved by others.

Goodbye ole grandfather clock!

Maybe, just maybe,

as long as you hang in my shop,

rest it may, for you not.

Reviews

[Chris Smith Welshpoetcs]

I found this a charming poem.

[Star Wolf]

Love this. It makes me think of the way the Masters of Poetry wrote their poems. Love the storyline in this. You did an awesome job on this.

[DeevaMarx]

Hi how are you? This is really wonderful. It's such a refreshing piece and I love the melancholic undertones. I'm going to read some more now.