Ballad Of A Runaway Horse Emmylou Harris

Say a prayer for the cowgirl, her horse ran away
She'll walk 'til she finds him, her darling, her 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, nowhere to go
He's gone like the summer, gone like the snow
And the crickets are breaking her heart with their song
As the day caves in and the night is all wrong

Did she dream? Was it he who went galloping past?
And bent down the fern, broke open the grass
And printed the mud with the well-hammered shoe
That she nailed to his speed in the dreams of her youth

And although he goes grazing a minute away
She tracks him all night, she tracks him all day
And she's blind to his presence except to compare
Her injury here with his punishment there

Then at home on a branch on a high stream
A songbird sings out so suddenly
And the sun is warm and the soft winds ride
On a willow tree by the riverside

Ah the world is sweet and the world is wide
And he's there where the light and the darkness divide
And the steam's coming off him, he's huge and he's shy
And he steps on the moon when he paws at the sky