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