There's a grief that can't be spoken There's a pain goes on and on Empty chairs at empty tables Now my friends are dead and gone
Here they talked of revolution Here it was they lit the flame Here they sang about tomorrow And tomorrow never came.
From the table in the corner They could see a world reborn And they rose with voices ringing I can hear them now! The very words that they had sung Became their last communion On the lowly barricade.. At dawn.
Oh my friends, my friends forgive me.
[The ghosts of those who died on the barricade appear.]
That I live and you are gone There's a grief that can't be spoken There's a pain goes on and on
Phantom faces at the window Phantom shadows on the floor Empty chairs at empty tables Where my friends will meet no more.
[The ghosts fade away.]
Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me What your sacrifice was for Empty chairs at empty tables Where my friends will sing no more...