Lovers and Friends

Ah battles and wars leave deep wounds and scars

Deep wounds are long in the mending

While reflecting upon all that is gone

Life passes on till its ending

But the pleasure and pain in our memories remain

And by memories our lives will be measured

And the time that we spend with lovers and friends

Is time we remember with pleasure

So fill up your glass to the future and past

In harmony be determined

There's more friendship poured out in a bottle of stout

Than you'll find in statute or sermon

I've heard all the old songs of the rights and the wrongs

The prophets of doom and destruction

Street corner messiahs, political pariahs

Up to their necks in corruption

From the holy unwise, denial and lies

Where innocent youth is forsaken

I have watched the days end with lovers and friends

Sorry to see the dawn breaking

So fill up your glass to the future and past

In harmony be determined

There's more friendship poured out in a bottle of stout

Than you'll find in statute or sermon

There are those who are certain that drinking and courtin'

Is a sure way to hell and damnation

Well if that is to be, it would seem clear to me

Their God has no sense of occasion

For to fulfill his plan, both woman and man

Bring forth each new generation

And a bottle of stout and a bit of a howt

Is surely a priest's procreation

So fill up your glass, throw your arms 'round your lass

In harmony be determined

There's more friendship poured out in a bottle of stout

Than you'll find in statute or sermon

And to the brashest and proudest and them that shout loudest

It would appear that the power has been given

To berate and deride us, separate and divide us

All in their version of heaven

But mountains and rivers will by far outlive us

When our bones into dust they are withering

There'll be lovers and friends and they'll comprehend

The reason we're in this together

So fill up your glass to the future and past

In harmony be determined

There's more friendship poured out in a bottle of stout

Than you'll find in statute or sermon

More friendship poured out in a bottle of stout

Than you'll find in statute or sermon