The vacant chair

We shall meet but we shall miss him.

There will be one vacant chair.

We shall linger to caress him

While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.

When one year ago we gathered,

Joy was in his mild blue eye.

Now the golden cord is severed,

And our hopes in ruin lie.

Chorus:

We shall meet, but we shall miss him.

There will be one vacant chair.

We shall linger to caress him

While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.

At our fireside, sad and lonely,

Often will the bosom swell

At remembrance of the story

How our noble Willie fell.

How he strove to bear the banner

Thro' the thickest of the fight

And uphold our country's honor

In the strength of manhood's might.

(

Chorus

True, they tell us wreaths of glory

Evermore will deck his brow,

But this soothes the anguish only,

Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now.

Sleep today, O early fallen,

In thy green and narrow bed.

Dirges from the pine and cypress

Mingle with the tears we shed.

(

Chorus