"The Old Clock on the Stairs" (circa 1850s)
Words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882
Music by Dolores

Boston: Oliver Ditson, 113 Washington St.
[Source: 065/082@Levy]

1. By day its voice is low and light;
 But in the silent dead of night,
Distinct as a passing footstep’s fall,
 It echoes along the vacant hall,
Along the ceiling, along the floor
 And seems to say at each chamber door:
For ever, never, never, for ever.

2. From that chamber cloth’d in white,
 The bride came forth on her wedding night;
There in that silent room below
 The dead lay in his shroud of snow:
And in the hush that follow’d the pray’r
 Was heard the old Clock on the stairs:
For ever, never, never, for ever.

3. All are scatter’d now and fled,
 Some married, some are dead,
And when I ask, with throbs of pain,
 “Ah! when shall they all meet again
As in the days long since gone by
 The ancient timepiece makes reply:
For ever, never, never, for ever.


4. Never here, for ever there;
Where all parting, pain and care,
 And time and death shall disappear
For ever there, but never here!
 To horologe of Eternity,
Sayeth this incessantly:
 For ever, never, neer, for ever.