Ballad Of The Absent Mare Lyrics - Cohen Leonard

Say a prayer for the cowboy 

His mare's run away 

And he'll walk til he finds her 

His darling, his stray 

but the river's in flood 

and the roads are awash 

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 

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 

he tracks her all day 

Oh blind to her presence 

except to compare 

his injury here 

with her punishment there 

Then at home on a branch 

in the highest tree 

a songbird sings out 

so suddenly 

Ah the sun is warm 

and the soft winds ride 

on the willow trees 

by the river side 

Oh the world is sweet 

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 

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 the 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 

"Whither thou goest 

I will go" 

And they turn as one 

and they head for the plain 

No need for the whip 

Ah, 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