To Absent Friends

There's a shadow at the table where you used to sitSame old bar but the light feels sickSmoke hangs low like a funeral veilNeon flickers thin and paleYour name comes up and the whole room slowsLike a cold wind crawling through our bonesNo one speaks when the jukebox criesWe just lift our glasses and look at the night

We were loud enough to wake the deadNow we drink with ghosts instead

One more round for the ones not hereStill in the smoke still in the dark this yearWe speak your names and we raise them highTo the blood in the bond that never diesIf there's a bar beyond this blackSave us a place and don't look backTill that night we drown the painTo absent friends we drink again

You were fire in a bottle and a fist in the rainHalf bad luck half hurricaneBoots hit hard and the floorboards shookYou could start a war with a single lookNow the door swings wide and it's never youThat silence cuts straight throughBut your laugh still burns in the dirty airLike a scar in the room that won't repair

We got older we got meaner with timeBut your ghost still runs with mine

One more round for the ones not hereStill in the smoke still in the dark this yearWe speak your names and we raise them highTo the blood in the bond that never diesIf there's a bar beyond this blackSave us a place and don't look backTill that night we drown the painTo absent friends we drink again

No choir no mercy no holy lightJust broken men and a bar at nightA crying guitar through a wall of soundLike your voice coming up from the groundNo clean goodbye no final amenJust one more toast and the weight of themSo here's to the lost and the wars we survivedYou're gone from the room but you're still in the ride

One more round for the ones not hereStill in the smoke still in the dark this yearWe speak your names and we raise them highTo the blood in the bond that never diesIf there's a bar beyond this blackSave us a place and don't look backTill that night we drown the painTo absent friends we drink again

Leave a little in the glass tonightFor the lostFor the loudFor the brothers in the dark