Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3UNPSMPxQ
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD54Q6eYX7
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7MVsF7MD4
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfyq4pyNNw
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFuBElUBSf
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,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8pKPtbd5ox
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXd6FWYTXKl
With fleas that one never knew were there,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZoRWwn9TA
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNtLjKZHW0
Trekking off into the living world.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTK1L9gZpz
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Thi1bGG3w
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gVXk1h4Sa
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7wfeDbYHF
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuo04DLRIMh
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6YviGVJbK
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqN13gXAUo
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcMq4cRkGz
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLymAzSR5j
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwdozqAqQa
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,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIkVnQY9Qc
who neither listen nor speak;491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttAA1P2Pdj
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmq6D4tNkx
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCPdMdu9x1
they are not tempted.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTeIXpTkcx
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSHm6UsLfg
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVzGoVVP4b
They are not taken in.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkY3LOIORr
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDA3sgY91EU
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92YBD5a1uP
them and yell at them;491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZVo4lPFFS
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKLs8OLL2D
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Bcpd1u3uP
You drink it standing up,491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxEydkhcJd
And leave the house.
