Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age597Please respect copyright.PENANAFQN1jUojW9
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.597Please respect copyright.PENANAfGeo9XloHn
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course597Please respect copyright.PENANAWsbU90M1OW
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,597Please respect copyright.PENANAkdVrEgZrzo
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,597Please respect copyright.PENANAz25xCtH4o5
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.PENANAJqpTsQQlP3
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion597Please respect copyright.PENANAnWFqPAq4Ok
With fleas that one never knew were there,597Please respect copyright.PENANAQ1gmFLfArF
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,597Please respect copyright.PENANAFJ1d2ia9en
Trekking off into the living world.597Please respect copyright.PENANAuYvZOFXcZk
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:597Please respect copyright.PENANAZqBtu387Md
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.597Please respect copyright.PENANAGXa8rbFmVb
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months597Please respect copyright.PENANAD16ouFMTrT
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night597Please respect copyright.PENANATsLNjxS96i
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!597Please respect copyright.PENANABpBgt1ki3Q
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,597Please respect copyright.PENANAnk3lEASdPN
—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.PENANApO0RwUoJet
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"597Please respect copyright.PENANAINGGaslcNa
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,597Please respect copyright.PENANA9mUTMJiw7D
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.PENANAI7ONgP4FZo
who neither listen nor speak;597Please respect copyright.PENANAJCLm7vnPvu
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said597Please respect copyright.PENANAXaX25xxWiT
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;597Please respect copyright.PENANA5uQsvYe3qi
they are not tempted.597Please respect copyright.PENANAbookaL2pim
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly597Please respect copyright.PENANA2QcmniuTAq
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;597Please respect copyright.PENANA4pTZPBZXLZ
They are not taken in.597Please respect copyright.PENANAFaQgFwzMR5
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,597Please respect copyright.PENANAWzDmSzl79Z
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake597Please respect copyright.PENANAlEQ3JNGGmn
them and yell at them;597Please respect copyright.PENANAv50TKcvSaZ
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide597Please respect copyright.PENANAaDQjoZPD9N
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.597Please respect copyright.PENANA9ylb3lHXdv
You drink it standing up,597Please respect copyright.PENANAHrcDn3q10z
And leave the house.