The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas. I just learned that.
A few hours ago, I learned there was a shooting in Texas today. Today is Sunday. The shooter opened fire inside a church in Sutherland Springs. Twenty-six people are dead, many more injured. By morning, I’m sure that number will change, which is to say the number will rise. The number will sink into further sadness and then it will be lost to the next news cycle. This is madness.
Like most states, Texas has a state song. But it also has a flower song.
In 1933, Texas adopted “Bluebonnets” by Julia D. Booth and Lora C. Crockett as the “official state flower song.” (This was House Concurrent Resolution No. 24 of the 43rd Legislature, in case you’re wondering.) The song’s lyrics are beautiful. I haven’t looked up the tune, yet. If it’s too tender, if the melody sounds less like a celebration and more like a eulogy, I’ll lose it.
For now, I’ll just read the words to Texas’s “official state flower song” and maybe you want to read them, too.
Bluebonnets
by Julia D. Booth and Lora C. Crockett (1933)
Mary Lynn
Mary, I looked for you while walking the quilt show Friday. Thank you for posting this, Sutherland Springs is 10 miles from my home and it has been a surreal day here. I don’t think anyone I know was there, but I am so incredibly sad for this little community and all the families affected. Thank you for thinking of our Texas.
Carol
My son and his family live in Texas. We spend a lot of time there. My heart is just breaking over this tragedy.
Pat
No words, just tears.
Peggie Riccio
What a lovely tribute, Mary, to those poor souls who lost their lives, and to their families and friends who knew not what yesterday would bring. Thank you.
Barbara
So very, very sad.
Jeanann
Mary, thank you for posting these lyrics.Prayers for all involved in this tragedy.
Susan Davies
The pastors daughter Annabelle was killed . She was fourteen. My granddaughter Annabelle is almost 14. These things are affecting me more and more. The last school shooting was close to my grandkids and the shooting in Las Vegas involved friends of my family. Eventually it will affect us all directly.2h8p
Summer
I wrote both of my US senators and my US representative today about gun legislation, and I plan to write to my representatives in the state congress tomorrow. If mentally ill people or people convicted of domestic violence don’t have access to guns, then they can’t kill people with guns. It’s that simple! We have to start talking about the continuance of mass shootings in our nation and start doing something now. Yes, people are grieving, but it seems all the time someone is grieving because mass shootings are EVERY DAY. Let your voice be heard whether you live in Texas, Las Vegas, Orlando, Sandy Hook, Columbine, or anywhere. Your voice counts, so don’t forget to vote tomorrow, Tuesday, November 7th!
Linda
There is no answerto the tragedies that are happening across our country..
I find that when sorrow touches our hearts the most sometimes music can bring a little peace.
This is a beautiful song perhaps it will help your heart.
Gulf Coast Highway
Nanci Griffith
LYRICS
Gulf Coast Highway
He worked the rails
He worked the rice fields
With their cool dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the
Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we’ve ever owned
Is this old house here by the road
And when he dies he says he’ll catch
Some blackbird’s wing
Then he will fly away to Heaven come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring
She walked through springtime
When I was home
The days were sweet
The nights were warm
The seasons change, the jobs would
Come, the flowers fade
This old house felt so alone
When the work took me away
And when she dies she says, she’ll
Catch some blackbirds wing
Then she will fly away to Heaven come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring
Highway 90
The jobs are gone
We tend our garden
We set the sun
This is the only place on earth
Blue bonnets grow
Once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road
And when we die we say, we’ll
Catch some blackbirds wing
Then we will fly away to Heaven come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring
And when we die we say, we’ll
Catch some blackbirds wing
We will fly away together come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring
Songwriters: Danny Flowers / James Brown / Nanci Griffith
Gulf Coast Highway lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Nancy
The lyrics are beautiful for both songs mentioned (in Mary’s blog and Linda’s reply), I have been a Nanci Griffith van for years. There are no words that can express my feelings of sorrow for those who have lost friends and loved ones in any of the senseless tragedies we have seen over the past few years,