Ballad Of A Runaway Horse

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[Verse 1]

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Say a prayer for the cowgirl her horse ran away
       E
She'll walk til she finds him her darling her stray
        B
But the rivers in flood and the roads are awash
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And the bridges break up in the panic of loss


[Verse 2]

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And there's nothing to follow nowhere to go
     E
He's gone like the summer gone like the snow
        B
And the crickets are breaking her heart with their song
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As the day caves in and the night is all wrong


[Verse 3]

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


[Verse 4]

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


[Bridge 1]

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


[Verse 5]

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


[Verse 6]

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And he comes to her hand but he's not really tame
   E
He longs to be lost she longs for the same
          B
And he'll bolt and he'll plunge through the first open pass
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To roll and to feed in the sweet mountain grass


[Verse 7]

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Or he'll make a break for the high plateau
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Where there's nothing above and nothing below
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It's time for their burden the whip and the spur
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Will she ride with him or will he ride with her


[Bridge 2]

      E
So she binds herself to her galloping steed
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And he binds himself to the woman in need
          E
And there is no space just left and right
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And there is no time but there is day and night


[Verse 8]

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And she leans on his neck and whispers low
E
Whither thou goest I will go
         B
And they turn as one and they head for the plain
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No need for the whip or no need for the rein


[Verse 9]

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Now the clasp of this union who fastens it tight
   E
Who snaps it asunder the very next night
     B
Some say  it's him some say it's her
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Some say love's like smoke beyond all repair


[Verse 10]

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So my darling my darling just let it go by
     E
That old silhouette on the great western sky
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And I'll pick out a tune and they'll move right along
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And they're gone like smoke and the're gone like this song


[Outro]

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Say a prayer for the cowgirl