Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfuiNwZ8eV
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9KnBPvJHS
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzA7Q1raCh
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOfEFk1pC9
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIOU9PaEAZ
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,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5k2XjpTOK
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEzti80zBn
With fleas that one never knew were there,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMvIPj4Ybc
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6knmU5TSxw
Trekking off into the living world.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FHfc68OnI
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKy2Yp0f5V2
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0P7qZoHC0
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zPChGtNXf
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyw69JlMdW
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFQbONVpVP
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwgxVVtUqB
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWjdkmcPLu
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTZW1G4DJW
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8trfrtOsCh
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,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3goC1odLld
who neither listen nor speak;565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbWHz3FBtG
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOifyafUOu
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6B4tuhEeG4
they are not tempted.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjYigxq71g
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtSew9V1bD
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAM5GgoHoKX
They are not taken in.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4tUBFDdNQT
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnvY6mB2A2
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmduK3bQTR
them and yell at them;565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TwNfoAmID
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomF3H4YFm2
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFAYM9QOkn
You drink it standing up,565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFQt2rBWkS
And leave the house.
