Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnMwr8x5Ui
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHT2QdLT6Ap
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvJT5a7mZM
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBP9U1ODMz
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JryfiqHVo
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,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JINFVb0QQ
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXV5h6WHNK
With fleas that one never knew were there,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQrEHIlaIQ
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKud7xjxwU
Trekking off into the living world.546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFBCdDQbX8
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXogkmAls8
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZZteO8PVS
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMMWwUii8H
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtorDhinWcg
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Ah9MAcqNC
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5Q6R8oUxM
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcu5TvBLHBo
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEGXx0oYCO
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbR7XzlVhb0
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,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NLXg41pYa
who neither listen nor speak;546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VSMexP5rD
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKF9dZN3fbJ
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbJmcVST96
they are not tempted.546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4FU6KoPaF
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusGb9He52o
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOk4xiIcdS
They are not taken in.546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfW9gCd951
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AvhZqjFJu
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqu64caTP5t
them and yell at them;546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJXhqtLB37
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpP1EjsTRYS
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15xWjFJ7Nd
You drink it standing up,546Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aRwju5NCY
And leave the house.
