The Vacant Chair - Tennessee Ernie Ford

We shall meet, but we shall miss him\nThere will be one vacant chair\nWe shall linger to caress him\nWhile we breathe our evening prayer;\nWhen a year ago we gathered\nJoy was in his mild blue eye,\nBut a golden chord is severed\nAnd our hopes in ruin lie.\nChorus\nWe shall meet, but we shall miss him\nThere will be one vacant chair\nWe shall linger to caress him\nWhile we breathe our evening prayer.\nAt our fireside, sad and lonely,\nOften will the bosom swell,\nAt remembrance of the story\nHow our noble Willie sell;\nHow he strove to bear our banner\nThrough the thickest of the fight,\nAnd uphold our country’s honor\nIn the strength of manhood’s night.\nChorus\nTrue, they tell us wreaths of glory\nEver more will deck his brow,\nBut this soothes the anguish only\nSweeping o’er our heartstrings now.\nSleep today, Oh early fallen,\nIn thy green and narrow bed,\nDirges from the pine and cypress,\nMingle with the tears we shed.