Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cgLlGtkAS
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkH17ezhYh1
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZOYimQ3q8
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRN5p0MTyZT
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBsADXepa2
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,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqY3lU3V8S8
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DtG1k23Jz
With fleas that one never knew were there,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhD4Pa0HNPK
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttCrOpYygo
Trekking off into the living world.449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJVXaEaQ35
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSM9GMNffx
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5Zumt41S7
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAHBj87H5R
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdavgBxMo4j
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFFR9OuWCV
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW16q2yukz4
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JTOjEWKSE
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEq1839zBpi
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgXqCZ7ots
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,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjggBv8cdTx
who neither listen nor speak;449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xgmrYTGhy
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq91Myu2tQ8
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZlDCfTzGw9
they are not tempted.449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbGJUrBBcn
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlUCfSvNty
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXslssbmKS
They are not taken in.449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNV1VLtzbMN
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TYOT7QoFa
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyh6L88seC
them and yell at them;449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtscbPzhC2G
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWA8LD2lBsb
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkA67EHcy7n
You drink it standing up,449Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOm7kcOPEVv
And leave the house.
