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