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.
