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 [bad word] 
On the lonely barricade at dawn. 

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me 
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. 

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.