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