Eight pints around the table Seven singers raise a glass As we toast the days that come no more But the single chair is vacant And the sorrow's in our eyes Tonight we sing for one who's gone before
CHORUS: Raise your voices, raise your glasses Sing your sorrows and your joys We will sing until they throw us out the door For the unclaimed pint is standing at his empty place No, he won't be singing with us anymore.
Good times we spent together Around this glass-stained table As time and trials have bound us to each other; Wings of songs we sang together Carry him across, Where echoes of them ring forevermore.
And sometimes in the pause From one verse to the next, We can almost hear soft laughter there once more The echo of his voice is Ringing in the last chord We know he's joining from the other shore. (Barbara Millikan, 2004)