Tennessee Ernie Ford — 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