Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6wI6P5WOO
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWy76f5jAx
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxE1ZVJC9Z
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjg4Jokrsvu
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5thKsYoulC
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,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQl4V9BxiBv
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguzO9LEz28
With fleas that one never knew were there,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUWdoqi1Z1
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZNif3szYM
Trekking off into the living world.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YQa9eEP16
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxmfcHdy4k
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLXNuuzNtu
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3KNw25Zlb
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbaxnlNVEz
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Qv8PeTUs6
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BfdFAYq78
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxPsW1GDTh
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrf8TAtNpK
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApuZkkOa0g
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,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYY2TaJFMqq
who neither listen nor speak;488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh805zYHGsd
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqk9mmejk4z
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkjH99koYq
they are not tempted.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxFedmVEo1
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAt8jmyMgGM
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP62uL1Wiz3
They are not taken in.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZGZhBzG94
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtajVJkJcdS
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fxchZYisa
them and yell at them;488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6UufeI5OB
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcSmQOH7hD
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL173fn8As6
You drink it standing up,488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBkO4mSl99
And leave the house.
