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.
