Forgiven, written by A. A. Milne

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,

As 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 had 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.