Life At The End Of The Tunnel

He said “Kiss me Julie but stay in bed
No need to get up so early
I’ve got one more shift and then I’m off a week.
I’ll be back by 5, don’t worry”
She said “Charlie I love you, just wear your mask
You’ve got to stay strong when you’re older
So you can take our boys hunting in those hills
And show them there’s more than just coal there.

It was half past ten when she got the call
“Julie there’s been a cave in,
I’m sending out a truck to bring you here
I swear to God we’ll save him”
No word was spoken as the drill spit rock
Towards a space a mile below
Life and death in a race against the clock
With a day of air at most

Chorus
Can that drill go any faster, We’ve just got to make it through
How much longer can they last there Isn’t there more that we can do?
Is there Life at the end of the tunnel?

After two AM the drill shaft broke
The foreman told his team to replace it
He saw Julie shiver and gave her his coat
“Coffee’s not half bad, did you taste it?”
She just shook her head staring at the hole
As the crew fixed their machine
She was trying to breathe for two sets of lungs
With a mile of rock between

Chorus

There’s a place up in the mountains
Where Charlie liked to fish
And listen to the crickets by the lake
And Julie’d get excited
When she’d see a shooting star
And wind through the trees caressed their faces

It was 9:15 when the drill broke through
9:30 when air started pumping
By a quarter to ten they had a phone line in
Asked for quiet, trying to hear something
The wind picked up and the lake began to fade
Charlie heard another miner mumble
“Get up man this ain’t our time”
There’s life at the end of the tunnel