今日は私の大好きな本を紹介します。
Robert Munschの絵本で、彼自身の死別した２人の赤ちゃんを思って作られました。
母親の息子に対する愛情に溢れた本です。
この本に出会ったのは、妊娠中の去年の今頃です。
１歳になる子がいる友達の家で偶然読んで、周りをはばからず号泣したのを覚えています。
当時はまだbeeが生まれておらず、
性別が男の子だというのは分かっていました。
この本を読んで
赤ちゃんが生まれたらこんな気持ちになるのかな・・・と思いました。
そして、最近またこの本を思い出す機会があって
ネットで検索して、テキストを久しぶり読んで、またまた大号泣。
今、Daycareに行っているbeeに無性に会いたくなりましたo(；△；)o
以下Full textです。
号泣覚悟の方はどうぞ・・・。
↓
A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "this kid is driving me CRAZY!"
But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old. And he never wanted to come in for dinner, he never wanted to take a bath, and when grandma visited he always said bad words. Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo!
But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo!
But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a grown-up man. He left home and got a house across town. But sometimes on dark nights the mother got into her car and drove across town.
If all the lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed. If that great big man was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
Well, that mother, she got older. She got older and older and older. One day she called up her son and said, "You'd better come see me because I'm very old and sick." So her son came to see her. When he came in the door she tried to sing the song. She sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always...
But she couldn't finish because she was too old and sick. The son went to his mother. He picked her up and rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he sang this song:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.
When the son came home that night, he stood for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then he went into the room where his very new baby daughter was sleeping. He picked her up in his arms and very slowly rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while he rocked her he sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
な、泣けた〜〜〜！！
ReplyDelete教えてくれてありがとう。
私は映画『Toy story 3』でも泣いちゃいました。
あとは親戚のおばさんからもらった『Let me hold you longer』の絵本でも。
機会があったら読んでみて。
自分が親になってみて初めて、自分の親の気持ちが分かりました。
gatoちゃん
ReplyDelete泣ける～～～でしょ！
２歳のくだり、EZ氏のことを思いました（笑）
妊娠中泣いた時は、ホルモンの関係で涙もろくなってるのかな・・・と思ったけど、やっぱり今回も泣きました。
正統派すぎて反則だよね！
Toy story 3見てみるね～。
私も、自分が親になって、義母に義弟（ニート）に対しての批判的な事は言うのを止めました。きっと、どんな子供でも、母親にとってはいつまでたっても可愛いベイビーで、人から自分の子供の悪いところを聞くのは耐えられないのだと分かったからです。