The Vacant Chair

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[Verse 1]
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We shall meet but we shall miss him, there will be one vacant chair; we shall linger to caress 
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him,
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While we breathe our ev'ning pray'r when a year ago we gathered, joy was in his mild blue eyes,
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But a golden chord is severed, And our hopes in ruin  lie.

[Chorus]
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We shall meet but we shall miss him, there will be one vacant chair,
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We shall linger to caress him, while we breathe our ev'ning pray'r.

[Instrumental]
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[Verse 2]
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At our fireside, sad and lonely,often will the bosom swell  at remembrance of the story,
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How our noble Willie fell; how he strove to bear our banner through the thickest of the fight,
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And uphold our country's honor, in the strength of manhood's night.

[Chorus]
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We shall meet but we shall miss him, there will be one vacant chair,
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We shall linger to caress him, while we breathe our ev'ning pray'r.

[Verse 3]
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True, they tell us wreaths of glory ever more will deck his brow, but this soothes the anguish 
only,
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Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now. sleep today, oh early fallen, in thy green and narrow bed,
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Dirges from the pine and cypress mingle with the tears we shed.

[Outro]
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We shall meet but we shall miss him, there will be one vacant chair,
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We shall linger to caress him, while we breathe our ev'ning pray'r.