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.