"Black Burning Air" lyrics

Under the town in a fever I ran
Brace on my back and a charge in my hand
Pressed to the earth
I was blind and alone
Takin' the black burning air
The day passed to night down in the mine
Walls of the seam like the black water shine
It was rock by the ton, life by the day
Breathin' the black burning air

Oh, I never believed it would be such a long way to go
Could a life in these shadows
Be enough for a body to show?

Work for the pride, the one that I love
As she lay down sleeping a mile above
And she sends me below with a sweet-scented kiss
Into this black burning air

My dad he went walking through his life straight and tall
I've seen his name on a placard
At the union man's hall
And five other miners
They lie sharing his grave
For the lack of the black burning air

Oh, we never believed it would be such a long way to go
And could a life in these shadows
Be enough for a body to show?

I've three boys a-growing with a choice soon to make
Foolish or wise for almighty Christ's sake
May there vision be clear
Their pure heart-pounding chest
Never fill with the black burning air