I found a little beetle; so that Beetle was his name, <br />And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same. <br />I put him in a match-box, and I kept him all the day ... <br />And Nanny let my beetle out - <br />Yes, Nanny let my beetle out - <br />She went and let my beetle out - <br />And Beetle ran away. <br /> <br />She said she didn't mean it, and I never said she did, <br />She said she wanted matches and she just took off the lid, <br />She said that she was sorry, but it's difficult to catch <br />An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match. <br /> <br />She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn't mind, <br />As there's lots and lots of beetles which she's certain we could find, <br />If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid - <br />And we'd get another match-box and write BEETLE on the lid. <br /> <br />We went to all the places which a beetle might be near, <br />And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear, <br />And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout: <br />'A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!' <br /> <br />It was Alexander Beetle I'm as certain as can be, <br />And he had a sort of look as if he thought it must be Me, <br />And he had a sort of look as if he thought he ought to say: <br />'I'm very very sorry that I tried to run away.' <br /> <br />And Nanny's very sorry too for you-know-what-she-did, <br />And she's writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid, <br />So Nan and Me are friends, because it's difficult to catch <br />An excited Alexander you've mistaken for a match.<br /><br />Alan Alexander Milne<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/forgiven-34/
