How Deep Would You Go

Lyrics

[Intro]
The weight of the water.
Ten thousand, nine hundred and ninety-four meters of it.
The pressure on the hull.
The pressure on the heart.

[Verse 1]
They called you Landlubber Lena.
An ama diver from the coast of Mie.
You, who feared the sea.
Who hated the salt sting, the shock of the cold on your skin.
Every morning, the white cotton suit, the heavy belt.
You held your breath and went down.
For the pearls.
For the abalone.
For a life you didn't choose, but lived.

[Verse 2]
And you held this.
A small, silver oval, worn smooth at the edges.
Not for sale.
Not for anyone else's eyes.
You'd open it in the dark of your room.
A tiny curl of hair, fine as spider silk.
A child's lock.
The heaviest thing you ever owned.

[Chorus]
How deep would you go for what you lost?
Past the twilight zone, past the midnight zone.
Down where the light has never been.
Challenger Deep.
The floor of the world.
How far down would you go to let it go?

[Verse 3]
My lights cut the absolute black.
One thousand, one hundred atmospheres trying to break the glass.
I was looking for my own lost things.
And I found yours.
Winking in the silt, a tiny star.
Undented. Unbroken.
As if the pressure understood.
As if the deepest place on earth was a safe.

[Bridge]
In 1960, on the Trieste, Piccard and Walsh swore they saw a fish.
A flatfish, ghost-white, swimming at the bottom.
Science said it was impossible.
That nothing could live under that weight.
But they saw it.
A flicker of life where none should be.
Like this locket. Like this lock of hair.
Proof of a warmth in the coldest dark.

[Chorus]
How deep would you go for what you lost?
Past the twilight zone, past the midnight zone.
Down where the light has never been.
Challenger Deep.
The floor of the world.
How far down would you go to leave it?

[Outro]
I hold it in my hand now.
It's still cold from the deep.
The clasp is tight.
Lena.
Landlubber Lena.
Did you drop it?
Or did you let it fall?