Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQN1jUojW9
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGeo9XloHn
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsbU90M1OW
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdVrEgZrzo
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz25xCtH4o5
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqpTsQQlP3
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWFqPAq4Ok
With fleas that one never knew were there,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1gmFLfArF
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJ1d2ia9en
Trekking off into the living world.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYvZOFXcZk
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqBtu387Md
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXa8rbFmVb
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD16ouFMTrT
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsLNjxS96i
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpBgt1ki3Q
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnk3lEASdPN
—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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpO0RwUoJet
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINGGaslcNa
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mUTMJiw7D
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7ONgP4FZo
who neither listen nor speak;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCLm7vnPvu
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaX25xxWiT
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uQsvYe3qi
they are not tempted.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbookaL2pim
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QcmniuTAq
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pTZPBZXLZ
They are not taken in.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFaQgFwzMR5
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzDmSzl79Z
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEQ3JNGGmn
them and yell at them;597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv50TKcvSaZ
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDQjoZPD9N
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ylb3lHXdv
You drink it standing up,597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrcDn3q10z
And leave the house.
