温馨夜读 PART1 10 Big Oak Tree 大橡树（在线收听）

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[00:01.42]Big Oak Tree 大橡树

[00:06.01]Tommy was eleven and Sabrina soon would be.

[00:10.17]Every morning they would meet beside the big oak tree.

[00:13.90]In the summer, they would play together in the sun

[00:17.22]and sit beneath the big oak tree when the day was done.

[00:20.90]One time when they were talking of growing up some day,

[00:25.49]they agreed they’d meet back there and maybe even stay.

[00:28.99]By the big oak tree they could build a little home

[00:32.12]and they would be together and neither one would roam.

[00:35.45]When Tommy was thirteen and Sabrina soon would be,

[00:39.38]they stood together one last time beside the big oak tree.

[00:43.65]Tommy had to leave for his family soon would move.

[00:47.59]He took his pocketknife and in the big oak made a groove.

[00:51.64]The groove was Tommy’s simple way of giving her his word.

[00:56.67]As he spoke so softly, this is what Sabrina heard:

[01:00.73]“On your eighteenth birthday, I’ll return to our oak tree.

[01:05.20]Then we will be together forever—you and me.”

[01:08.59]City life was hectic and the years did quickly fly.

[01:12.86]Tommy never once forgot Sabrina’s last good-bye.

[01:16.26]He had marked the calendar each year on her birthday.

[01:19.42]Soon he’d see the big oak tree and, maybe, even stay.

[01:23.92]He would hold Sabrina’s hand;

[01:26.42]together they’d agree to stay beside each other—close to the big oak tree.

[01:31.14]Tommy headed for the tree one Sunday afternoon.

[01:35.07]It was her eighteenth birthday and he would see her soon.

[01:38.68]When Tommy reached the tree, he found a written note.

[01:43.06]It was from Sabrina’s mom, and here is what she wrote:

[01:47.00]“Sabrina cannot meet you; she won’t be here today.

[01:50.94]In this envelope is what Sabrina has to say.”

[01:54.76]He opened up the letter and his hands began to shake.

[01:58.71]As he read Sabrina’s words, his heart began to break.

[02:03.30]“Tommy, dear, I know that you are standing by our tree.

[02:07.56]When you see a big oak tree, always think of me.

[02:11.18]I won’t be here to meet you; the Angels came my way.

[02:15.99]Nothing else would keep me from meeting you today.

[02:19.05]Look up in the sky, and you’ll know

[02:22.51]that I can see you standing there and waiting--beside our big oak tree.”

[02:27.37]Love, sometimes is beyond the hands’reach, yet it can exist in the mind.