Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzvBRXoEV1
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloxBxnBqeA
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAw8vK463ym
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXFHGlgHyF
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQxdzOLS5R
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,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcEIGQ91e1
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzqZ5edUdXV
With fleas that one never knew were there,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXt8VU81Dil
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KY4pFithk
Trekking off into the living world.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPGste3br2
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS53IByUesW
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcDEDU3t3F
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJjqW6TGNY
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1RExtPG6D
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNCM9eiejT
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIh6BaWtgk2
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9BtG4UBN9
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWiCsjNTSM
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5X6cavhCIm
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,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9tT0MnDOc
who neither listen nor speak;595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3V5tBCLwo
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uKTvCkYDq
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYlUHQRF3h
they are not tempted.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvWoiu6b46
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8847KyKCXu
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidzEMDJFXB
They are not taken in.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7MiuyiP3g
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHHjFUZn3R
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9jhWF03Q6
them and yell at them;595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvw7qSuA94
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDVQb4XuFq
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRSBoCuE2M
You drink it standing up,595Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYldI64DEl
And leave the house.
