Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHL8x9TNhhp
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAkl73WCAY
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZ997CJMLx
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpoGOcgJ18
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSsJ78kwS1
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqADKaxspIP
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSo0hXPdhm
With fleas that one never knew were there,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YgKTFgSb0
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4oLXcIMW4
Trekking off into the living world.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67PY5HulLu
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvemRNZirD
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiDB1VafnC
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyTEmiXcvW
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyElAYgbHvz
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4TgFTGaLZd
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7rKzg68tB
—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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhx4TasIDfW
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3IPZejMos
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6X3ED0uh3
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8D9AO51Ap4
who neither listen nor speak;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0w84xWUs1
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQK3OWMOXM
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWkuRV5JGT
they are not tempted.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLFhK7nnUI
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLdPop3uxm
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRJxRqUqui
They are not taken in.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcoYeuVTzt
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hgUmGYQV7
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡur8mCMJJHG
them and yell at them;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIf1AApf7rV
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGXeU5Z7Wu
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKShefuWRe
You drink it standing up,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsJmlM8sGd
And leave the house.
