Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcb13DDiLL
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydpVUweNBF
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft91SQUj3r
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyglKJL133m
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjz2TqKW14Q
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,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfvxcSpBHb
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfbpH21K4b
With fleas that one never knew were there,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDXG6qceIF
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iJsIssdM6
Trekking off into the living world.563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw13XwIQ2gu
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChvZOzRXYh
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hO5L7Sz4i
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qKRd81YyC
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQXQOfH6ie
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5fey6O8c2
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG74z36EWSQ
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3YpnAcKzi
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbo1wlHiZAO
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGWOT1V1ms
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,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjOEoaAQuJ
who neither listen nor speak;563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnsBHrGnwS
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0ghi2LyFV
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QIxE6j3nO
they are not tempted.563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5HKiyvTqu
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmiFTQhyoy
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGkPyj7z84
They are not taken in.563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCWoQrvpHx
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ280W0G14Ea
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Vk6ZN29F5
them and yell at them;563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVaUIaGviI
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGe047qJvR
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvkL2EzDK8
You drink it standing up,563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp464bJ5Qst
And leave the house.
