Ballad of the Absent Mare

Intro: A.. 
       E.. ...|E.. D..|A.. ...|A.. ...| 
 
        A 
Say a prayer for the cowboy, his mare‘s run away 
           D 
And he‘ll walk till he finds her, his darling, his stray 
         A 
But the river‘s in flood and the roads are awash 
          E                      D        A 
And the bridges break up in the panic of loss 
 
And there‘s nothing to follow, there‘s nowhere to go 
She‘s gone like the summer, gone like the snow 
And the crickets are breaking his heart with their song 
As the day caves in and the night is all wrong 
 
Did he dream, was it she who went galloping past 
And bent down the fern and broke open the grass 
And printed the mud with the iron and the gold 
That he nailed to her feet when he was the lord 
 
And although she goes grazing a minute away 
He tracks her all night and he tracks her all day 
Oh blind to her presence except to compare 
His injury here with her punishment there 
 
Then at home on his branch in the highest tree 
A songbird sings out so suddenly 
Oh the sun is warm and the soft winds ride 
On the willow trees by the riverside 
 
Oh the world is sweet and the world is wide 
And she‘s there where the light and the darkness divide 
And the steam‘s coming off her, she‘s huge and she‘s shy 
And she steps on the moon when she paws at the sky 
 
And she comes to his hand but she‘s not really tame 
She longs to be lost and he longs for the same 
And she‘ll bolt and she‘ll plunge through the first open pass 
To roll and to feed in the sweet mountain grass 
 
Or she‘ll make a break for the high plateau 
Where there‘s nothing above and there‘s nothing below 
And it‘s time for their burden, it‘s time for the whip 
Will she walk through the flame, can he shoot from the hip 
 
So he binds himself to the galloping mare 
And she binds herself to the rider there 
And there is no space but there‘s left and right 
And there is no time but there‘s day and night 
 
And he leans on her neck and he whispers low 
Wither thou goest, I will go 
And they turn as one and they head for the plain 
No need for the whip, no need for the rein 
 
Now the clasp of this union who fastens it tight 
Who snaps it asunder the very next night 
Some say the rider, some say the mare 
Or that love‘s like the smoke, beyond all repair 
 
But my darling says, Leonard, just let it go by 
That old silhouette on the great Western sky 
So I pick out a tune and they move right along 
And they‘re gone like the smoke and they‘re gone like this song 
 
 
 
Intro: 
 
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