Answer:
Halo of water, tongue of wood. Skin of stone, long I've stood. My fingers short reach to the sky. Inside my heart men live and die.
It's equally comfortable in an orchestra and a geometry textbook. What is it?
Lovely and round, I shine with pale light, grown in the darkness, a lady's delight.
My first keeps time, my second spends time, my whole tells time.
They try to beat me, they try in vain. And when I win, I end the pain.
I break away from my pack. I create holes in my victims. I can travel for miles and then disappear. I am part of a dying breed. What am I?