Bonnie Prince Billy - Purple Bird → Listen on Bandcamp

I used to listen to Bonnie Prince Billy a lot, I especially loved his album Beware. Somehow I forgot about BPB for a couple of years. It is a joy to find an old friend again and Purple Bird is really a beautiful album. It gets better with every listen so far.

From the album A Cowgirl's Prayer

I really love the lyrics to this song in this version. It stands out I think, on this album. 
It was originally written and recorded by Leonard Cohen, then with the name Ballad of the Absent Mare. Cohen rewrote the lyrics for his friend and guest singer Jennifer Warnes and it is this version that Emmylou recorded.

Ballad of a Runaway Horse

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

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

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

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

Then she leans on his neck and whispers low
Whither thou goest, I will go
And they turn as one and they head for the plain
No need for the whip, oh 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 it's him, some say it's her
Some say love's like smoke beyond all repair

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

Here is Leonards version: