The Clock

AN: Enjoy. Reviews appreciated.

Sarah Jane turned around in the attic, about to leave, when she noticed the large clock; how had she forgotten it was there?

My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor;

Sarah Jane remembered vaguely that she was told by the young woman who entrusted her with it that it was her Grandfathers and pleaded her to "keep it safe". Why was it so hard to think about it? It wasn't as if it looked very exotic like some of the alien items in the attic.

It was taller by half than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.

Apparently the girl thought
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride;

A line of verse drifted into her head and caused her to shiver as she sat down and stared.
But it stopp'd short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

And far away a mad man in a box paused for a second as he remembered.

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 at the door,

With a blooming and beautiful bride;

"Where had that old thing got to? It played it's share of antics!" he wondered before he was distracted by a lurching movement. A little part of him was glad it was lost without knowing why.

But it stopped short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

An old woman now the Granddaughter shivered as her family said goodbye distract by an old old song.

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 in its place — not a frown upon its face,
And its hands never hung by its side.

She supposed he always so the human in things where it be ideas, objects or people.

She was dreading the day when it would happen. The day the universe lost it's meddling protector. Even if she wouldn't live to see it.
But it stopp'd short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

It rang an alarm in the dead of the night —
An alarm that for years had been dumb;

The unmistakeable cloister bells began to chime.
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight —
That his hour of departure had come.

He knew it was unavoidable but he ran anyway. There was so much to see, so many people to meet, so many worlds to save – so much space to run away.
Still the clock kept the time, with a soft and muffled chime,
As we silently stood by his side;

The companions had all found it one way or another. Either heard or read the poem repeated throughout history. Even the Daleks some where buried deep inside their hatred secretly dreaded the day the clock would stop.
But it stopp'd short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

There is a reason why Timelords are the one of the oldest races in history, because without them the clock would stop and time will end.