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 chord is severed
And our hopes in ruin lie

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

At our fireside, sad and lonely
Often will the bosom swell
At remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie sell;
How he strove to bear our banner
Through the thickest of the fight
And uphold our country's honor
In the strength of manhood's night

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
True, they tell us wreaths of glory
Ever more will deck his brow
But this soothes the anguish only
Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now
Sleep today, Oh early fallen
In thy green and narrow bed
Dirges from the pine and cypress
Mingle with the tears we shed

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