Chorus:
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 the 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 and honest wage.
Chorus:
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.
Still the gunman rules and widows pay
A scarlet coat now a black beret.
They thought that blood and sacrifice
Could out of death bring forth a life.
Chorus:
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.