Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age487Please respect copyright.PENANAoJCkQ38T0t
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.487Please respect copyright.PENANAqQ0EFCP2KI
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course487Please respect copyright.PENANAFxRxzqerL9
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,487Please respect copyright.PENANAFZ6tVcf7au
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,487Please respect copyright.PENANAAt8u2zm8it
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,487Please respect copyright.PENANAn3N7un3OBx
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion487Please respect copyright.PENANANzz9TT4MYj
With fleas that one never knew were there,487Please respect copyright.PENANABKvLSTZzIs
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,487Please respect copyright.PENANAZcZlkub4pz
Trekking off into the living world.487Please respect copyright.PENANAj2ALvOgk4I
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:487Please respect copyright.PENANAyldNG8rMVe
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.487Please respect copyright.PENANAN9GQV5L590
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months487Please respect copyright.PENANATwDRkD537j
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night487Please respect copyright.PENANARHrpRnGTMX
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!487Please respect copyright.PENANAZMjmLeeKaH
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,487Please respect copyright.PENANABCBraPj17A
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"487Please respect copyright.PENANAik13ixhLyy
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"487Please respect copyright.PENANAlYgGyWjZjy
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,487Please respect copyright.PENANA66aVoMvMzi
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,487Please respect copyright.PENANAxnNU0lX4S8
who neither listen nor speak;487Please respect copyright.PENANA514163yMDu
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said487Please respect copyright.PENANAQWjmR7zJSv
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;487Please respect copyright.PENANAQGV8rLpIon
they are not tempted.487Please respect copyright.PENANA2dvVkEQieR
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly487Please respect copyright.PENANAt6gmDf5VdN
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;487Please respect copyright.PENANAT5jNkOx1J5
They are not taken in.487Please respect copyright.PENANAoLu6SUSEpG
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,487Please respect copyright.PENANAlX4ysRofrs
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake487Please respect copyright.PENANAs1FsyzMaGQ
them and yell at them;487Please respect copyright.PENANAoMzIPz1rgG
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide487Please respect copyright.PENANAIBGqj2kbsW
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.487Please respect copyright.PENANAb1i04D4exL
You drink it standing up,487Please respect copyright.PENANA9rZyfrdM1r
And leave the house.