Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

I don't know why, but I've had this song stuck in my head since yesterday evening. I'm not sure what triggered it - this is a song I've always found both depressing and inspiring, and it's usually triggered by certain... Mental patterns, lets say - but there you go. If you haven't heard it, in my opinion it's the best song from Les Miserables.

And yes, this is a song I learned to sing back when I was singing avidly. I've found myself singing it under my breath all morning.

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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 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.