My Grandfather's clock

This was part of "Favourite Nursery Rhymes" CD, when I played it, I remembered my grandfather and I thought this is a very sad nursery rhymes. I wouldn't have been able to explain had Agastya asked me what it meant.

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.

CHORUS:
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 at the door,
With a blooming and beautiful bride;
But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.

CHORUS

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 hand never hung by its side.
But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.

CHORUS


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 for flight,
That his hour of departure had come.
Still the clock kept the time,
With a soft and muffled chime,
As we silently stood by his side.
But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.

CHORUS

See... sad isn't it? 19th Dec was my grandpa's birthday. I hope he rest in peace.

Nagi's away in Japan for 2 weeks. Agastya has been a very good boy in his dad's absence.

Usually in the nights, we have to 'force' him to go to sleep.

Me/Nagi: Aga, time to sleep.
Aga: No.
Me/Nagi: Let's go to sleep. Lila's tired, look. Mommy's tired. We're all tired. Let's all sleep, ok?
Aga: But Aga has already sleep. Aga don't want to sleep.

Then in the next 15 minutes until he's lying on his bed he'll keep on saying "Aga don't want to sleep..." He does that while we're changing his clothes, while I brush his teeth, etc.

The first night after Nagi's gone, I asked him.
Me: Aga, let's go to sleep.
Aga: No. (contently watching Bob the Builder).
Me: But look, Lila's sleepy. Can we all go to sleep now?
Aga: Later, okay? After Bob the Builder finish.
I looked at the time, and oh it's only 5 minutes more at the most. I said okay.
Soon after it's finished, I asked him again if we can go to sleep.
Aga: Yes, okay.

I was so shocked I forgot to brush his teeth that night.

Later on, Lila slept immediately after a feed because she was way too sleepy. I want to prepare cooking because if I start in the morning I will have to rush everything. (I was making some sort of meat balls, and it needs a lot of preparation like making the dough then the balls...).

I usually wait until Aga sleeps before I get out of the room. That night, I said, "Aga, mommy has to cook. Can you sleep all by yourself? You have lion, rhino and hippo-goat* with you."
Aga: Okay.
Me: Really? You go to sleep, okay? Don't get out of bed, and don't call for Mommy because you're going to wake up Lila if you do.
Aga: Okay.

(*Hippo-goat is actually a goat. He keeps saying it's a hippo, so I said okay it's a hippo. Then he says it's a hippo-goat.)

I thought I'd cut up some vegetables first and then check if he's still awake. If he does then I'll just wait until he sleeps then continue my cooking. I don't want him to sleep late.

When I finished cutting some vegs, I went back to the room, and voila. The boy was sleeping! He kept his promise. I was so proud and teary at the same time.

This Thursday is his concert, and I'm so excited. I've asked my uncle, he said he'll come. Preeti will come, and Ram might too. Yay!