Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age597Please respect copyright.PENANAPE0KVkOrpz
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.597Please respect copyright.PENANAkBVksc1lx4
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course597Please respect copyright.PENANAkyOiUxYK4Q
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,597Please respect copyright.PENANAOnYxHybY5R
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,597Please respect copyright.PENANAmWUdjhVxDv
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,597Please respect copyright.PENANAFiY7B0aZBS
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion597Please respect copyright.PENANALdy0EqeHuy
With fleas that one never knew were there,597Please respect copyright.PENANA1c454dKDMR
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,597Please respect copyright.PENANADgAoma6i6f
Trekking off into the living world.597Please respect copyright.PENANAmWIvWCn8Tf
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:597Please respect copyright.PENANAwOyLZMkaJf
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.597Please respect copyright.PENANA56zvHBludk
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months597Please respect copyright.PENANAE475YPtfaw
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night597Please respect copyright.PENANAMcpZyPskNX
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!597Please respect copyright.PENANA1quELBqgEj
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,597Please respect copyright.PENANAMeuHrwYj2d
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"597Please respect copyright.PENANAfEBlpR8qQm
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"597Please respect copyright.PENANAaHT5aW7Vze
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,597Please respect copyright.PENANAFCwDLbW5CU
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,597Please respect copyright.PENANAu1VZmFCxfi
who neither listen nor speak;597Please respect copyright.PENANABJYzeAZWsG
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said597Please respect copyright.PENANA5wLQqCop01
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;597Please respect copyright.PENANARfM85wNwjM
they are not tempted.597Please respect copyright.PENANAYwKMRMcVqx
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly597Please respect copyright.PENANAkLnCcerAql
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;597Please respect copyright.PENANAMZnmDS2RpM
They are not taken in.597Please respect copyright.PENANA1RbX6ol754
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,597Please respect copyright.PENANAaYoE9aZGN5
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake597Please respect copyright.PENANAHVFr2wlxke
them and yell at them;597Please respect copyright.PENANAdeyswuY1z3
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide597Please respect copyright.PENANAr68laG65OZ
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.597Please respect copyright.PENANAc0b8T2libG
You drink it standing up,597Please respect copyright.PENANAzZpYvk1Emj
And leave the house.