Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dXcy8urlc
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRDztMAQbZ
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPZTjhTw7F
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIlODOa5tu
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0RXRXa4kn
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,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNVZHkkAjU
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlr7PrkWWk
With fleas that one never knew were there,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2P9acOEqEo
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHJxhWK0OT
Trekking off into the living world.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrMyedq8KD
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFNIYvnoRg
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpLDVPzxHn
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeiGOMRCWx
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuELoVe1s4z
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjLAZBTy1i
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsT0eay6gqU
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOHI1bkUGd
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡON1f4yzxUX
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitMn3jAxHV
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,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9PDlNovuL
who neither listen nor speak;492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEylhqycJF
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyHcQwSYRI
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xhuugA2Zh
they are not tempted.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzmPDluvZF
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozt4sLX5XY
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlKRO09nyH
They are not taken in.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAU60TdwjOF
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGY5EVKBgO
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmMHwQCHJ5
them and yell at them;492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvlLPD89Vp
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIH2Mfp22U
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XYxXaVS5f
You drink it standing up,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXk6qzphNfY
And leave the house.
