Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITBH5B9maB
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6FTn5CM9E
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡib8EbjOdvt
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQyQJGK04q
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTDHpBOvRa
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,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlDlZNGulx
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2Jz7yTb3l
With fleas that one never knew were there,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOA4jyntHr
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMArDoUgFQB
Trekking off into the living world.516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdb6t0QKwIA
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51ViKzckXH
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRax2ye1Vx
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTsVMdFUG2
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppY5ZckLsH
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYHX0WuNJ6
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1A5RSYjRA
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvJHsV6qtY
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46XJ6zIPpy
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLc59mEzuQE
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,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqml6PdbiV
who neither listen nor speak;516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLd53RX5an
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UHOCtMv9G
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkw11uliPX
they are not tempted.516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUP4o4WoOKY
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKTpbeyyDu
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbV3OJcsoT
They are not taken in.516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmlPb5gIaG
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtRxJQxo8n
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JQ4SZIr2E
them and yell at them;516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXBqyeV1in
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDS2MAf3D55
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCx62KFzdm
You drink it standing up,516Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt8oWuHmPB
And leave the house.
