Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmx6eNFFREK
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAAnUPBALs
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pItiVEwpn
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsaXz8Zt91
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6608v48YuD
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,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzI3nm3OKfa
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVOPflZmOs
With fleas that one never knew were there,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7P9kj5T6wn
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVmyQViC2z
Trekking off into the living world.549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgekC4oHsqu
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBfTZwqCB1
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mA1FiqkRW
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbXRC8EE8k
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAKx2vSXZx
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdItvWDSF8
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfBDfZ4le8
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkczMAIi0ko
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZfoyltMgv
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVkBkOdX43
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,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1nO73muYj
who neither listen nor speak;549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGV41aq8MUD
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjHutU3ayP
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWBJBIywLk
they are not tempted.549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34MSzSpx9g
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFTSacV9X6
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0eWl74IPP
They are not taken in.549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3889n8APl4
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3bfkKhZ4d
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMAAqu0Php
them and yell at them;549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3X8wYm9VVE
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoHCY0Ffo0
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfT90hIj6p
You drink it standing up,549Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGtowFRRha
And leave the house.
