Great lyricists

Daniel Gildenlow most definitely: here are some:

The Perfect Element

Yesterday found him today
Caught him at his last breath
These walls built to stand come-what-may
Lie shattered in the ashes
His skin against this dirty floor
Eyes fixed on the ceiling
He has stretched those chains of sin
Far beyond all feelings
Still, so still...

In his head a thunderous
Cry of desperation
Tearing voices from his past
Scream for his attention
Behind those eyes a world explodes
No one there to save him
All pain that he's been passing on
Answers to his craving
Once more

I will never leave this shame...

Falling beyond the point of no return
Nothing to become and nothing left to burn

Stealing meaning from this child
We took away his reason
His soul put under lock and key
His heart blackened from treason
But if you take from those you fear
Everything they value
You have bred the perfect beast
Drained enough to kill you

Falling beyond the point of no return
Nothing to become and nothing left to burn

Watching unseen untouched bleeding
Empty exposed dying eyes closed

Once he had forests and mountains
That were only his - listening to him
Once he would run through the summer days
Catching memories for ages to come
Now he is dressing this naked floor
With his flesh and blood, and times passes by
His trade of pain might just have lead him
To deal with consequence
For some change as time passes by

I am the waking child
(Lingering, climbing, clinging, clutching
Craving, clawing, hurting, falling down)
I, the wayward son of a mountain lake
(Of icy liquor tears, of a silent Earth)
(Of a rusty lid, of a wingless wind)
(Of an eyeless storm, of fallen gods,
who lost their way)
I set myself on fire
To breed the Perfect Element

Will I ever walk again?

Falling far beyond the point of no return
Nothing to become and nothing left to burn

(This is the end)

Nothing left to say,
The pain will go away
Now you must surely see,
That you are killing me
You are killing me
Now you are killing me
(You must never leave this shame!)
Now you are killing me
(You must never leave this shame!)
Now you are killing me
(You must never leave this shame!)

Is this more than you want?

An example of Peter Hammill lyrics which always gets me.

The stars in the heavens still shine
up above me: 
how lovely they'd seem
if you were with me
but you're gone through the looking-glass
and I am left to pass these nights alone.
         
I'm lost, I'm dumb, I'm blind,
I am drunk with sadness,
sunk by madness,
the wave overwhelms me,
the mirror repels me,
the echo of your laugh
drifts through the looking-glass
and I am alone.
         
No friendship, no comfort, no future, no home,
the past lingers with me:
you're all the love I've ever known
and without you I'm nothing
but empty and silent,
reflecting on all that I've lost.
I let you slip away so soon.
         
Can you hear me? This is my song:
I am dying; you are gone.
         
These words are not enough to save my soul,
they just mock me from the mirror.
I'm cold and I'm yearning,
I've told you I'm burning,
my eyes can't stand the light...
like a stray dog in the night
I'll shuffle off alone.
         
We all make our futures
but I have lost mine;
I'm hoping for a miracle
but finding no sign....
         
The stars in their constellations,
each one just sadly flickers and falls...
without you they mean nothing at all.

To understand these lyrics fully one has to know Hammill had just broken up with his long time lover Alice, and title and lyrics of the song are a play on the title of the 2nd of the Alice books, "Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found there" by Lewis Carroll.

Syzygy wrote: Unlike a lot of people on here I can't say that many prog lyricists really do it for me. Robert Wyatt and Peter Blegvad both write superb lyrics, but for me most of the best lyricists are outside the prog canon - Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Morrissey, Shane MacGowan, Dylan and Neil Young all spring to mind. In terms of mainstream prog, Peter Gabriel and Peter Hammill bith write some excellent stuff, more as solo artists than in bands for some reason. Ian Anderson has written some great lyrics as well, although in the early to mid 70s (up to Minstrel...) he had a tendency to over write which could get a bit tiresome. King Crimson, my second favourite prog band after Magma, have consistently had some of the worst lyrics in history supplied by a variety of different but equally trite wordsmiths, which must be some kind of record. Damo Suzuki of Can and Magma's Christian Vander avoided the lyrics issue by writing in languages they invented themselves, a fine example more recently followed by Sigur Ros and Ruins.

It's rare that I disagree with you on an issue, but I would NOT call Peter Hammill "mainstream prog". His oeuvre is far too varied for that. Examples of him which are definitely NOT mainstream:

Loops and Reels
The Fall of the House of Usher
Sonix
The Appointed Hour (with Roger Eno)
Spur of the Moment (with Guy Evans)
The Union Chapel Concert (with Guy Evans)

Roger Waters

Peter Gabrial

Adrain Belew

Ian Anderson

Neil Peart

Jon Anderson

Peter Sinfield