Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QRzKfUHD5
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyAq6mSHAEC
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrmpFlWXIw
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZsQLPcwdN
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVDcX23Uvb
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,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTIb1YuAXN
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzU3ESBIC0
With fleas that one never knew were there,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqBODIX2Vb
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZFcCvOhwX
Trekking off into the living world.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcytsSfLrNJ
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iyOWfNpj2
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgQEXcltbX
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81Tp5kXGSm
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72mbesqEs6
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYTap20mq7
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GawF1F3kc
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAg7RTt57Kr
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPegKapjJvj
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03anM08OI4
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,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWqawagYis
who neither listen nor speak;520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUqIXbFbbd
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FnGvgEpax
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHXrV2YKpF
they are not tempted.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7ONjGCrHE
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5kc9BTxdT
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7DKWmB7nw
They are not taken in.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldFU7umGH6
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyV0227KzAW
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdsaB8BYfG
them and yell at them;520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaFckWgvCx
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTRxjvtGyj
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9voCmtRdBh
You drink it standing up,520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQx15AFArL
And leave the house.
