Lyrics Ballad of the Absent Mare.lrc Leonard Cohen
[id: iqckjcmh]
[ar: Leonard Cohen]
[al: Recent Songs]
[ti: Ballad of the Absent Mare]
[length: 06:43]
[00:15.53]Say a prayer for the cowboy, his mare’s run away
[00:21.65]And he’ll walk ’til he finds her, his darling, his stray
[00:27.63]But the river’s in flood and the roads are awash
[00:33.52]And the bridges break up in the panic of loss
[00:39.74]
[00:44.45]And there’s nothing to follow, there’s nowhere to go
[00:50.41]She’s gone like the summer, gone like the snow
[00:56.01]And the crickets are breaking his heart with their song
[01:01.42]As the day caves in and the night is all wrong
[01:07.88]
[01:12.12]Did he dream, was it she who went galloping past?
[01:17.94]And bent down the fern, broke open the grass
[01:23.40]And printed the mud with the iron and the gold
[01:28.39]That he nailed to her feet when he was the lord
[01:34.60]
[01:39.07]And although she goes grazing a minute away
[01:44.75]He tracks her all night, he tracks her all day
[01:49.91]Oh, blind to her presence, except to compare
[01:55.44]His injury here with her punishment there
[02:01.36]
[02:05.35]Then at home on a branch, in the highest tree
[02:11.16]A songbird sings out, so suddenly
[02:16.40]Ah, the sun is warm and the soft winds ride
[02:21.08]On the willow trees by the river side
[02:27.44]
[02:31.71]Oh, the world is sweet, the world is wide
[02:37.50]And she’s there where the light and the darkness divide
[02:42.37]And the steam’s coming off her, she’s huge and she’s shy
[02:47.65]And she steps on the moon when she paws at the sky
[02:57.69]And she comes to his hand but she’s not really tame
[03:03.39]She longs to be lost, he longs for the same
[03:08.43]And she’ll bolt and she’ll plunge through the first open pass
[03:13.71]To roll and to feed in the sweet mountain grass
[03:23.86]Or she’ll make a break for the high plateau
[03:28.99]Where there’s nothing above and there’s nothing below
[03:33.97]And it’s time for the burden, it’s time for the whip
[03:38.99]Will she walk through the flame? Can he shoot from the hip?
[03:48.65]So he binds himself to the galloping mare
[03:54.31]And she binds herself to the rider there
[03:59.22]And there is no space but there’s left and right
[04:04.40]And there is no time but there’s day and night
[04:14.21]And he leans on her neck and he whispers low
[04:19.83]”Whither thou goest, I will go”
[04:24.70]And they turn as one and they head for the plain
[04:29.94]No need for the whip, ah, no need for the rein
[04:39.65]Now the clasp of this union, who fastens it tight?
[04:45.41]Who snaps it asunder the very next night?
[04:50.32]Some say the rider, some say the mare
[04:55.03]Or that love’s like the smoke, beyond all repair
[05:04.65]But my darling says, “Leonard, just let it go by
[05:10.13]That old silhouette on the great Western sky?
[05:15.26]So I pick out a tune and they move right along
[05:20.11]And they’re gone like the smoke
[05:23.79]And they’re gone like this song
[05:26.46]