"Comrades Fill No Glass for Me" (1855)
Poetry and Music by
Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864

1.
Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me
  To drown my soul in liquid flame,
For if I drank, the toast should be --
  To blighted fortune, health and fame.
Yet, though I long to quell the strife,
That passion holds against my life,
Still, boon companions may ye be,
But comrades, fill no glass for me.

Still, boon companions may ye be,
But comrades, fill no glass for me.

2.
I know a breast that once was light
  Whose patient sufferings need my care,
I know a hearth that once was bright,
  But drooping hopes have nestled there.
Then while the tear drops nightly steal
From wounded hearts that I shoul heal,
Though boon companions may ye be --
Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me.

Though boon companions may ye be --
Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me.


3.
When I was young I felt the tide
  Of aspirations undefiled,
But manhood's years have wronged the pride
  My parents centered in their child.
Then, by a mother's sacred tear,
By all that memory should revere,
Though boon companions ye may be --
Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me.

Though boon companions may ye be --
Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me.