Chords for The Ballad of the Absent Mare by Perla Batalla

_ [Eb] _ _ [F] _ _ [Db] _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _
Say a prayer for the cowboy, his mare's run away
[Db] And he'll walk till he finds her, his darling he'll stay
[Ab] But the river's in flood and the roads are awash
[Eb] And the bridges break up [Db] in the panic [Ab] of loss _
And there's nothing to follow, there's nowhere to go
[Db] She's gone like the summer, she's gone like the snow
[Ab] The crickets are breaking as hard with a song
[Eb] As the day caves in [Db] and the night is [Ab] all wrong _ _
Did he dream, was it she, who went galloping past
[Db] Bent down the fern, broke open the grass
[Ab] Printed the mud with the iron and the gold
[Eb] That he nailed to her feet [Db] when he was [Ab] alone
_ _ And though she goes grazing a minute away
[Db] He tracks her all night and he tracks her all day
[Ab] Blind to her presence except to compare
[Eb] His injury here with [Db] her punishment [Ab] there
_ _ Then at home on his branch in the highest tree
[Db] A songbird sings out so suddenly
[Ab] Oh the sun is warm and the soft winds ride
[Eb] On the willow tree by the [Ab] _
riverside
_ _ And the world is sweet and the world is white
[Db] She's there where the light and the darkness divide
[Ab] She steams coming off her, she's huge and she's shy
[Eb] And she steps on the moon when she paws [Ab] out the sky
_ _ _ And she comes to his hand but she's not really tame
[Db] She longs to be lost and he longs for the same
And [Ab] she'll bolt and she'll plunge through the first open pass
[Eb] To roll and to feed _ in the [Ab] sweet mountain grass
_ Or she'll make a break for the highest plateau
Where [Db] there's nothing above and there's nothing below
[Ab] And it's time for their burden, it's time for the whip
[Eb] Will she walk through the flame?
[Db] Can he shoot from [Ab] the hip? _ _
So he binds himself to the galloping man
[Db] She binds herself to the rider there
[Ab] And there's no space but there's left and right
[Eb] And there is no time, [Db] but there's [Ab] day and night _ _ _
And he leans on her neck and he whispers, Lord
[Db] With her thou goest, [Bb] I will go
[Ab] They turn as one as they head for the plain
[Eb] No need for the wind, [Db] no need for [Ab] the rain _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ Now the clasp of this union, who fastens it tight
[Db] Is snatching us under the very next night
[Ab] Some say the rider, some say the man
[Eb] Some say love's like smoke _ [Db] beyond [Ab] all repair
[Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _
But my darling says, let it, just let it go by
[Db] That old silhouette on the great western sky
[Ab] So I pick out a tune and they move right along
[Eb] And they're gone like the smoke
_ They're gone [Ab] like the smoke _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _