Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXh1zqBGb7
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZa5cJMD4LB
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4E2XTAo0V
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4SoEaXl6c
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEYVlRkjrj
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8aNbwjrN7
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03uFAArWCQ
With fleas that one never knew were there,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUm8IPHT9C
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuC8EHR6YdP
Trekking off into the living world.596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTelBxQwd2
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxvdTzynMC
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWrxUpkVQm
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpE3mpQgez
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAnxeO3ISy
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡny33dDQM8K
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEPJxLUcWf
—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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanJP07S4CW
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGn210RUZX
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoVyCIwicP
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8jdKjaDj1
who neither listen nor speak;596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2LwuNwele
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAQpFHDogJ
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxb0MnKe8Vw
they are not tempted.596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMHNk8YW6p
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡte3WK2l3gV
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAW3LLUWPY8
They are not taken in.596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLajlM94TP
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHPV75HwbR
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhuMHLkTyQ
them and yell at them;596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HP8T0mMSn
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76HKQt1jKR
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYg1E7RhlbJ
You drink it standing up,596Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYvwsUGHC8
And leave the house.
