Hold Me Now, Oh Hold Me Now

On my drive to work this morning, I popped in U2's old Rattle and Hum CD and listened. I loved these songs since secondary school/college years. They're timeless. And when it came to the second song, Van Diemen's Land, I had goosebumps. I played it repeatedly, over and over again. It's a gripping, beautiful, sad yet hopeful song with its haunting melody and guitar tunes. I had goosebumps hearing the melancholic tune as he sang "Hold me now, oh hold me now..." and mainly also how the significance of certain themes become relevant in cycles after many years....

Van Diemen's Land is the former name of Tasmania island when the Brits used the Australian continent as a penal colony. Many Irishmen were amongst those sent to Australia during the brutal period of that history. The song was dedicated to Irish poet John Boyle O'Reilly. Probably someone who dared to speak out against injustice (using poetry!) and was punished, sent to the dreaded Van Diemen's Land. U2's Irish by the way. This song was sung by The Edge. You can search and listen to it in YouTube.

Hold me now, oh hold me now
'til this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land

It's a bitter pill I swallow here
To be rent from one so dear
We fought for justice and not for gain
But the magistrate sent me away

Now kings will rule and the poor will toil
And tear their hands as they tear the soil
But a day will come in this dawning age
When an honest man sees an honest wage

Hold me now, oh hold me now
'til this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land

I can imagine a time will come when many will be put away for fighting for what's right. But I believe in the inherent hope in that line "But a day will come, in this dawning age...."