Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxVJjiQBEH
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vrqYB58qq
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXA5CB6BJQ
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIW3rxDoSM
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnM5FVzRyF
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,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEv8p62q98O
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlib2xXVyx1
With fleas that one never knew were there,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyciUzjSD3
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4p3kV1Wl1
Trekking off into the living world.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtcnmlyjNQ
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSv5Yi95L5
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybGosPjPie
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu32qgIqCcw
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIy4HD7SEe
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuT3Gz6KXX
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZr5fGbfuPb
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5aB9Ekp7R
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSzBxQMKFa
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaNVX8nOWI
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,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj92ObQRn88
who neither listen nor speak;553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5r3ojW0wfF
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvvuFFKqOB
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrqgASLGur
they are not tempted.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtF7e38Ch4d
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg75fyfgh0G
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDptDpE9f5G
They are not taken in.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02eQP8M8Fv
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEm8BpSIYH8
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWBn6caMgt
them and yell at them;553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMpku0S5B1
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8M9muFAfy
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqQyzWUNnE
You drink it standing up,553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbZ7tkveXr
And leave the house.
