I think it IS a hopeful note! Giving your heart to God and having him break it is amazing. We can grow so cold, callous, and indifferent to the world around us. We get wrapped up in our own worlds and become selfish. This song is a prayer from Bono, asking God to change and transform him in so many ways. "Always pain before a child is born" is an awesome line.... before things can be birthed and begun anew, pain and hardship must come first. Why?? This is Bono's question. He doesn't know the answer, but he knows that there is pain before things get better ("why the dark before the dawn?". He knows that to stay fresh and alive, he must continually have his heart broken from the death that tries to cover it, day after day (coldness, indifference). This song reminds me, in a strange way, of "Dirty Day." I believe that song is talking about guilt and remorse and the "dirty days." There are references to Jesus being buried in the ground (as a Christian, one must die with Christ and be born again --- resurrection) and then at the end of the song, he sings, "Those days, days, days, run away like horses over the hill..." what a great song! Anyway, the 2 songs seem to be linked in my mind because of the "why the dark before the dawn" line and the "days run away like horses over the hill" line. That's enough rambling for now....