Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmt00qbe5Vi
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTds94tQ7U0
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgWp4b9ktu
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNK342C3e1
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1qQej9AlO
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,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlj41b7JeKz
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NVtsmkt3C
With fleas that one never knew were there,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yIGreKbOH
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwWm53L45o
Trekking off into the living world.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHqoBO52dz
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYYUfcd6GA
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGz2a0xErlo
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavMAAhL1AA
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtct11xugz3
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDGS7wCalu
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDYW1UqW0b
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm01Borod5w
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2RiDv3NEBw
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2iMh2PsIa
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,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2bOgd8wot
who neither listen nor speak;526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKI2EKGT5Ig
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfpRECEkb1
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFZuCDLtfI
they are not tempted.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNh94MKx8ju
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAyR0dWC9SB
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pumBFqhZ9
They are not taken in.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOWF73XmJo
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxawbD12dj
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyIdcgQtnE
them and yell at them;526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKh3ND3TBCw
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShR0jwyj7c
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGZZof13mR
You drink it standing up,526Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCxhYPuYbP
And leave the house.
