Mental Illness? or - Salvation                                                               Copyright ©2014 Hazel Gay



Hazel Gay's To Heal the Broken-Hearted

A few days after the OKC bombing I was driving east on I-40 when suddenly words, lines, started flashing through my mind. I pulled over and started writing as fast as I could trying to keep up with the input. I’ve never experienced that in my life.

On the Oklahoma City bombing… (by native Oklahoman)

April 19, 1995

There’s a shadow on “The City” 
There’s a shadow on this land 
There’s a shadow still hiding 
Deep in the heart of man.

We’re stunned and mad and scared and sad 
There’s no foreign land to bomb. 
The babies may be the hardest part 
Will we ever again be calm?

As I walked through the valley of the shadow of death 
I heard the old, old songs. 
By rainbow seas at the edge of the sun 
I saw the angels, reaching out, 
Receiving them, one by one.

America the beautiful 
America the brave 
Are you brave enough to stand and face 
the ugly shadow within your gates?

We call it hate 
We call it fear 
We call it many names 
It doesn’t matter what we call it 
It always ends with pain.

Old Glory may be tattered 
Old Glory may be frayed 
But we sew here in the heartland 
A new one can be made.

For I heard the echo of hoofbeats 
of a long ago midnight ride 
I saw a tall black hat 
Out of the corner of one eye. 
I heard the voices of ’76, ’61, ’44 say 
“Did you hear the bugle call 
that was sounded here today?”