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.
