Poetry

Forgiven
By A.A.Milne
(taken from Now We Are Six)

I found a little beetle, so that Beetle was
his name,
And I called him Alexander and he answered
just the same.
I put him in a match-box, and I kept him
all the day . . .
And Nanny let my beetle out--
Yes, Nanny let my beetle out--
She went and let my beetle out--
And Beetle ran away.

She said she didn't mean it, and I never said
she did.
She said she wanted matches and she just took off
the lid,
She said that she was sorry, but it's difficult
to catch
An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for
a match.

She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn't
mind,
And there's lots and lots of beetles which she's
certain we could find
If we looked about the garden for the holes where
beetles hid--
And we'd get another match-box and write
BEETLE on the lid.

We went to all the places which a beetle might
be near,
And we made the sort of noises which a beetle
likes to hear,
And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort
of shout:
"A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!"

It was Alexander Beetle I'm as certain as can be
And he had a sort of look as if he thought it must
be ME,
And he has a sort of look as if he thought he ought
to say:
"I'm very, very sorry that I tried to run away."

And Nanny's very sorry too for you-know-what-
she-did,
And she's writing ALEXANDER very blackly on
the lid.
So Nan and Me are friends, because it's difficult
to catch
An excited Alexander you've mistaken for a match.