The First Rebreather

In a place where the river banks draw near

Men work a heading to the west

Where streams like giants' fingers close

From the hills to the emptiness beneath

To the depths of the mere

Morning light

Midwinter sun

Underneath

The river song

In a place where the river banks draw close

(Men break stone to make new ground)

Light and air are hard down deep to find

(Engines work to hold the water back)

To the edge of the mere

"Run boys run toward the light"

"The river's in, the tunnel's in"

Here she comes

The sleeper wakes, ten thousand years

She lay in wait for this

Every night their dreams were filled

With the fear (of the river breaking in)

But this was not a river god

This was something (rising from the deep)

From the depths of the mere

"Run boys run make for the light"

"Save yourselves, the tunnel's in"

Here he comes

The first rebreather, like a mummer

Like a souler

Come to save them

Rising up to the height of the river (river)

At flood tide

Engines fail, lost to the water

As silence falls

This man will walk into darkness

One foot in front of the other

Into the unsounded depths

Of the heading

Into the fifth circle of hell

With no light to lead him home

Man is all alone

At the end...

(This man will walk into darkness)

(Without fear of what lurks in the shadows)

Watching the surface grow (quite still)

Waiting for hope at the ninth hour

Man all alone in the darkness

Here he comes