These are desperate days that we live in
When all for a loaf of bread
You’re arrested and chained
Transported and shamed forever

But when the baby is hungry and crying
And there’s no-one lend you a hand
You do what it takes
Lest the bough breaks with the cradle

Who will hear me, who will free me?
Who will save me when they judge me on this day?
Will another be her Mother?
As I’m serving time ten thousand miles away.

The whispers cut through the darkness
With talk of Van Diemens land
At the end of the earth,
Where you’re stripped of your worth and your spirit

Where you work ‘til your body is broken
Where your soul is empty of faith
Where you’re nothing more
Than a soldiers whore for the taking

Who will hear me, who will free me?
Who will save me when they judge me on this day?
Will another be her Mother?
As I’m serving time ten thousand miles away.

For the turn of the tide we are waiting
For a twist of fate now I pray
But fate isn’t kind
I’m leaving behind life’s reason

In years to come when she’s older
Will she know what I did was for love
Or will the sound of my name
Make her shudder in shame or sorrow

Who will hear me, who will free me?
Who will save me when they judge me on this day?
Will another be her Mother?
As I’m serving time ten thousand miles away.
Who will hear me, who will free me?
Who will save me when they judge me on this day?
Will another be her Mother?
As I’m serving time ten thousand miles away.