Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIz7pYHpF7J
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrh6O1Z9XE
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasiB7wcbv8
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSQuVK4kqv
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjZpb4wNt3
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,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbX2ZpUze6
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFLuJLvARx
With fleas that one never knew were there,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUngh6Kp7S
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqSXnXy6IV
Trekking off into the living world.521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5qPX44x2n
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rTe0oAb8D
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxr2LTHS9f5
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡicQhm87HKE
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRETIBEZ9jx
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP03iiwe6va
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKGFjVHNzW
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIrDiutvg5
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FebhArQGg
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EnFTsqSBM
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,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWZ4tcOcpU
who neither listen nor speak;521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbeqgCe2My
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qivS1cTG4
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Uu6If4ix0
they are not tempted.521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4O3zHJTyEq
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhLwrDtkSs
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzgxttow1P
They are not taken in.521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQT23Vz5O7y
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9mb2jxzMz
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5d6j2a51Sn
them and yell at them;521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZdo5cuVWE
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPGLj3KdLD
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5fJflkq8g
You drink it standing up,521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1ff1jOmO0
And leave the house.
