Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age596Please respect copyright.PENANA6Uji8UXspM
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.596Please respect copyright.PENANAeO8GJqG1aV
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course596Please respect copyright.PENANA6YhnKlX7DN
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,596Please respect copyright.PENANA3gjok4Fs5H
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,596Please respect copyright.PENANAbGnRGwch4A
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.PENANAEqN831VGcy
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion596Please respect copyright.PENANAJNtmo3eRQN
With fleas that one never knew were there,596Please respect copyright.PENANAIH09Nv0gXA
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,596Please respect copyright.PENANAnaAQjVD6aC
Trekking off into the living world.596Please respect copyright.PENANAWqscQkwN5K
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:596Please respect copyright.PENANAZFbn3fQhnM
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.596Please respect copyright.PENANAvTYLGmruMP
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months596Please respect copyright.PENANAN8L2BLvKWX
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night596Please respect copyright.PENANA5pu50XNBl6
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!596Please respect copyright.PENANAltOc9S9tPW
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,596Please respect copyright.PENANAIjOrOlQAhQ
—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.PENANAty8UmWQHPU
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"596Please respect copyright.PENANAfOls8InbBg
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,596Please respect copyright.PENANAMoZlEmeW0X
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.PENANAoQ7AZPBg26
who neither listen nor speak;596Please respect copyright.PENANAOQgQ2Zbc09
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said596Please respect copyright.PENANAEUrEWpHI5Z
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;596Please respect copyright.PENANA7Mmk6FzaSr
they are not tempted.596Please respect copyright.PENANA9wGhGNnreV
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly596Please respect copyright.PENANAAxWnkKY6Kg
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;596Please respect copyright.PENANAOm1YXjRJjd
They are not taken in.596Please respect copyright.PENANATY8dimPh0J
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,596Please respect copyright.PENANAH50MH2sADu
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake596Please respect copyright.PENANAwuliS6MgSh
them and yell at them;596Please respect copyright.PENANAtFbgItXlLH
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide596Please respect copyright.PENANAEVitNBNejM
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.596Please respect copyright.PENANAHNx5uWqza1
You drink it standing up,596Please respect copyright.PENANA0I0mfQfUAV
And leave the house.