Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisRPGOUITw
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC60BVht0hZ
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2h1tFpUih
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhfyUxPBL1
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJ75MY6tMz
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,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gXDkWOptg
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGC17a3BCH
With fleas that one never knew were there,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1byS8jPZRY
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2F0aud0JDX
Trekking off into the living world.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPQz12vpO0
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDZnYcyeny
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8taHvpECRq
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbubxxSgnE
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQZNfx43E3
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5WzWjDvMZ
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoYqpICwJa
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgA4ooH995X
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg50KsYr80j
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrWBVfPWHN
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,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJPQ0Z5BR0
who neither listen nor speak;447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPeKoLmrG6H
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsivV5ZYgOF
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5XoWTW7WB
they are not tempted.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTYNLuejeG
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlYsJ1sr9T
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsXIWZuY6u
They are not taken in.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07kEYriugh
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPS0ETpqo3
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMtTkmy1dLm
them and yell at them;447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQdv7WOfjl
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAuTtSZS1V
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6wZVqin5D
You drink it standing up,447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2isZCWt2i
And leave the house.
