Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age596Please respect copyright.PENANAJnFtG8zLAe
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.596Please respect copyright.PENANAf7uxeTGedh
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course596Please respect copyright.PENANACzVgiyxpKE
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,596Please respect copyright.PENANAILty9pqj5C
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,596Please respect copyright.PENANAfqpYbNWvJe
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,596Please respect copyright.PENANAPf6qJYFuFW
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion596Please respect copyright.PENANAIYfkN3dzF5
With fleas that one never knew were there,596Please respect copyright.PENANAYNeG03jHUD
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,596Please respect copyright.PENANAcogsBmw9et
Trekking off into the living world.596Please respect copyright.PENANARTHBRDIjNP
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:596Please respect copyright.PENANA6bDWMLTjTm
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.596Please respect copyright.PENANAo6sBVWLhfp
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months596Please respect copyright.PENANAC9k45RnLnw
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night596Please respect copyright.PENANA2GlqQ3NBoQ
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!596Please respect copyright.PENANA0nCHLh33vH
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,596Please respect copyright.PENANAINvBg0fFFg
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"596Please respect copyright.PENANADxOvPLDAks
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"596Please respect copyright.PENANAJzwD6a1NgM
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,596Please respect copyright.PENANAUKSr7RqPpX
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,596Please respect copyright.PENANAi1EkWhg2Py
who neither listen nor speak;596Please respect copyright.PENANAnkuXTuiWXP
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said596Please respect copyright.PENANAioWHfT92Vv
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;596Please respect copyright.PENANAH9zp4oECrW
they are not tempted.596Please respect copyright.PENANAnzWQG9r7bR
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly596Please respect copyright.PENANAERKf9Lcew5
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;596Please respect copyright.PENANAyIUT0nzhTQ
They are not taken in.596Please respect copyright.PENANAhOMwF6Pg7v
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,596Please respect copyright.PENANAQrt1GlOZwb
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake596Please respect copyright.PENANAQzTZup0GMm
them and yell at them;596Please respect copyright.PENANA7dItYAtIFo
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide596Please respect copyright.PENANATTS1eUogu2
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.596Please respect copyright.PENANAqDCrccepaG
You drink it standing up,596Please respect copyright.PENANAzOl89JQXGk
And leave the house.