Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age596Please respect copyright.PENANA3YsbFjqfff
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.596Please respect copyright.PENANAbJMyBDnDl2
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course596Please respect copyright.PENANAualAYIa2va
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,596Please respect copyright.PENANAvwzPxxanGv
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,596Please respect copyright.PENANAM6wpOUA5Z4
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.PENANAmYPRjkvjun
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion596Please respect copyright.PENANA9T4SzCbSUJ
With fleas that one never knew were there,596Please respect copyright.PENANAbHGhbvIFbS
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,596Please respect copyright.PENANAE7UlUyRskE
Trekking off into the living world.596Please respect copyright.PENANACoJySgPTkK
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:596Please respect copyright.PENANAaqS3r2AOXs
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.596Please respect copyright.PENANAKTW20FQTCA
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months596Please respect copyright.PENANA2Is0gal2vE
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night596Please respect copyright.PENANAhzRR6TF6nK
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!596Please respect copyright.PENANApD7lwU2PhJ
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,596Please respect copyright.PENANAhnagvtK8yQ
—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.PENANALrwxVXXAIv
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"596Please respect copyright.PENANAOaHEyL1ElO
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,596Please respect copyright.PENANAzyamDW9Fgx
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.PENANA1OTh0XzfBz
who neither listen nor speak;596Please respect copyright.PENANAZ95olTrbE6
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said596Please respect copyright.PENANAjhTgwR96dt
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;596Please respect copyright.PENANArVcKBTzovL
they are not tempted.596Please respect copyright.PENANA4iTujVoXdZ
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly596Please respect copyright.PENANA22G5AHOyCn
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;596Please respect copyright.PENANAMER3Qn57qr
They are not taken in.596Please respect copyright.PENANAMLIku9RRwA
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,596Please respect copyright.PENANAP9aPCBze4m
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake596Please respect copyright.PENANApAkCdrcU4r
them and yell at them;596Please respect copyright.PENANAf10cWEpxYh
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide596Please respect copyright.PENANAfyDz9Yny8B
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.596Please respect copyright.PENANAHWEw51UYYn
You drink it standing up,596Please respect copyright.PENANAhGCa10dgxh
And leave the house.