Langston Aray, "A Punished Pun" (1907)
A story of the butter
And a story of the fly.
Would give you comprehension,
If someone would reply.
The fly was on the butter
And the butter on the fly:
If the butter had the wings on it
It couldn't help but fly.
They say the little wooly worm,
Or caterpillar spry—-
That creeps along the trees of shade,
Make every butter-fly.
Now, if he makes the butterfly
He ought to be a fly:
But if he hasn't got the wings,
Where does the butterfly?
On buckwheat cakes, hot biscuits,
On batter cakes, in pies;
This pun is understanding
The fly in butterflies.
Published in Colored American Magazine, June 1907