Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknYG713hSp
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhpzEmmlDk
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMdPUtmVI5
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0SuC78su7
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5ZplvC8eG
And went away, and cannot really be said to have lived at all.
And cats die. They lie on the floor and lash their tails,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTADnIlmZ6
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Lwvx7OqxO
With fleas that one never knew were there,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhvVM8Cqxj
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfYmMoKQJn
Trekking off into the living world.416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1D9RJ5cF3
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXF16SqpMK
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyoFmO3i87
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlKEr3klDw
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gEYGwc9tB
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdderwzyRnf
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr67VCa7jRu
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoydYP8p6x
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sx0dMpmVf
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaiP7bAOKm
Is plenty of time to say, "I'm sorry, mother."
To be grown up is to sit at the table with people who have died,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCdbeAj3LV
who neither listen nor speak;416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2QPKSoo90
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQRn05KZiE
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpwRg4qcaM
they are not tempted.416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2lc66hSQx
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ew1H2SnCT
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2iEDZej7l
They are not taken in.416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ywmGo01GP
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7CqQlsl4QL
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLATjdrhX0b
them and yell at them;416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8ByEjd4SJ
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yEvMBTGqW
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIj1TMLryo
You drink it standing up,416Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7x8QAH7WiT
And leave the house.
