THE VACANT CHAIR.
Reading edition
[Listen] [Notation]
(Used by permission of S. Brainard’s Sons.)
Key of A Flat.
GEN. ALVIN P. HOVEY. We shall meet, but we shall miss him; There will be one vacant chair; We shall linger to caress him While we breathe our evening prayer. When, a year ago, we gathered Joy was in his mild blue eye; But a 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 When we breathe our evening 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 our banner Through the thickest of the fight, And upheld 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 heart strings 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. GEN. NATHAN KIMBALL.
