THE VOICE OF THE CLOCK
"Tick, tick, tick," for many a long, long year
The old clock has welcomed the birth of the hours
And mourned when their end drew near,
And still it sings its changeless tune, the same note o'er and o'er
But its language is changed for it tells me to-day
That I am a child no more,
And the message is not an unwelcome one
For the real race is only begun
And yet the old clock's settled decree
Wakes the solemn voices of Memory
And a sober coloring dims the light
As a rainbow of childhood fades from sight.
Where has it gone and when did it go?
The glimmering tints in that transient bow
Have melted away in some dreamland sea
But its image still lives in memory
And comes and comes and comes again
In shapes of pleasure and shapes of pain;
For childhood is not all gladness and joy
But purest gold mixed with base alloy,
And children's troubles to them are as real
As the greatest trials their elders feel.
The old clock has welcomed the birth of the hours
And mourned when their end drew near,
And still it sings its changeless tune, the same note o'er and o'er
But its language is changed for it tells me to-day
That I am a child no more,
And the message is not an unwelcome one
For the real race is only begun
And yet the old clock's settled decree
Wakes the solemn voices of Memory
And a sober coloring dims the light
As a rainbow of childhood fades from sight.
Where has it gone and when did it go?
The glimmering tints in that transient bow
Have melted away in some dreamland sea
But its image still lives in memory
And comes and comes and comes again
In shapes of pleasure and shapes of pain;
For childhood is not all gladness and joy
But purest gold mixed with base alloy,
And children's troubles to them are as real
As the greatest trials their elders feel.
"Tick, tick, tick," hark! the children's voices float
And intrude on that well known note,
Out in the sunshine they laugh and leap
While the old clock and I our vigil keep
O'er the old-time dreamings cold and dead,
O'er the joys and sorrows of moments fled,
O'er thoughts of forgotten Summer-times,
O'er Winters that came with their Christmas chimes,
O'er friends and farewells, o'er smiles and tears
And the many phases of by-gone years;
And intrude on that well known note,
Out in the sunshine they laugh and leap
While the old clock and I our vigil keep
O'er the old-time dreamings cold and dead,
O'er the joys and sorrows of moments fled,
O'er thoughts of forgotten Summer-times,
O'er Winters that came with their Christmas chimes,
O'er friends and farewells, o'er smiles and tears
And the many phases of by-gone years;
[ 238 ]
