The Parting Glass - Archie Fisher

The fire is out and the moon is down

The parting glass is dry and done

And I must go and leave this town

Before the rising of the sun

But long is the road and many is the mile

Before I rest my soul again

With girls that weep and girls that smile

At all the words and ways of men

Of all the friends who joined the song

I’m sorry for their going away

The parting that’s forever long

Leaves but their lasting memory

But finer men have raised the glass

In chorus with the company

And all too soon their time has passed

Lost voices in the harmony

For some there are who may not bide

But wander 'till the journey’s end

Nor take a girl to be a bride

Nor keep a man to be a friend

But when I’m done with wandering

I will sit beside the road and weep

For all the songs I did not sing

And the purposes I did not keep