Our World Is Ours
I was sitting at an airport,
looking at the people's ramble,
as a wind mill moves with the wind,
left to right and then right to left.
There were gentlemen in coats,
pretty ladies exposed petticoats,
screaming toddlers in the prams,
unruly children on the roam.
People were checking in one by one,
Suitcases of dark pink, violet and brown,
Wheels carried them while the men pull the strap,
there was this guy with a plastic shopping bag.
Well dressed young man in twenties,
might have carried another set of cloth,
wanted to check in his belongings,
to the amusement of the regulars.
He was an immigrant worker,
traveling thousand miles,
across the oceans to find green,
that denied even for his dream.
What land was sold to dress him,
and provide him that plastic bag?
How much loan taken to pay the agent,
and for his air ticket?
He held his head high,
and I saw the hope in his eyes,
For a human whose immigrant Indian father is her Idol,
she saw her own father in that young lad.
poem by Veeraiyah Subbulakshmi
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Related quotes
Plastic Passion
Plastic passion is a hard to handle
Plastic passion is a sold out scandal
Oh it's a plastic passion
It's a plastic passion
Plastic passion is the ladies lover
Plastic passion is the marble mother
Oh it's a plastic passion
It's a plastic passion
Plastic passion is a diamond delight
Plastic passion is the nadir of night
Oh it's a plastic passion
It's a plastic passion
It's a plastic passion
Plastic passion is a hycoscine heart
Plastic passion is a transparent tart
Oh it's a plastic passion
It's a plastic passion
Plastic passion is a gold guarantee
The plastic passion is murdering me
Oh it's a plastic passion
It's a plastic passion
It's a plastic passion
song performed by by Cure
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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An Immigrant Here!
i am an immigrant here,
i claim no nation,
choose no side...
but this earth is my home,
formed from it's dirt,
it's bottomless oceans...
my friends are trees,
mountains, and rivers...
the long grasses my beard,
the great plains my soul.
i am the birthing of spring,
the death of the snow...
i am an immigrant here,
many colors, all human.
i am the hunted, and the hunter,
i am the pounding of waves
held in the tiniest shell.
i am wind, fire, and darkness...
i am an immigrant here,
i am the plow of the man,
the valley of the woman.
i am the roar of the cities,
the hush of the forests...
i am the water spilling o'er the dam!
i am an immigrant here,
illegal only to those who fear!
the river i crossed,
i will cross again!
my only map the lines
in an old man's hands!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Plastic Man
A man lives at the corner of the street,
And his neighbors think hes helpful and hes sweet,
cause he never swears and he always shakes you by the hand,
But no one knows he really is a plastic man.
Hes got plastic heart, plastic teeth and toes,
(yeah, hes plastic man)
Hes got plastic knees and a perfect plastic nose.
(yeah, hes plastic man)
Hes got plastic lips that hide his plastic teeth and gums,
And plastic legs that reach up to his plastic bum.
(plastic bum)
Plastic man got no brain,
Plastic man dont feel no pain,
Plastic people look the same,
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kick his shin or tread on his face,
Pull his nose all over the place,
He cant disfigure, or disgrace,
Plastic man (plastic man).
Hes got plastic flowers growing up the walls,
He eats plastic food with a plastic knife and fork,
He likes plastic cups and saucers cause they never break,
And he likes to lick his gravy off a plastic plate.
Plastic man got no brain,
Plastic man dont feel no pain,
Plastic people look the same,
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kick his shin or tread on his face,
Pull his nose all over the place,
He cant disfigure, or disgrace,
Plastic man (plastic man).
Hes got a plastic wife who wears a plastic mac,
(yeah, hes plastic man)
And his children wanna be plastic like their dad,
(yeah, hes plastic man)
Hes got a phony smile that makes you think he understands,
But no one ever gets the truth from plastic man (plastic man)
Plastic man (plastic man).
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Song For A Good Son
A summers day so long ago
A thousand boats dancing on the bay
I came to you inside a dream
We both held hands and fell into the water
You never claimed to know me well
The dark-eyed son, the privileged man
You fond me bitter, you thought me cold
Well now Im gonna make you understand
My mother died, my father cried
He left me lonely by the waterside
Waterside so deep and wide
If I follow, maybe I will find her
Beyond the salt and spray
The current carried her away
Beyond the salt and spray
The current carried her away
I cant outrun my destiny
Tell me who will sing a song for me
Darkness darkness cover me
By my own hands the way it has to be
My mother died my father cried
You will find me by the waterside
Waterside so deep and wide
If I follow, maybe I will find her
If I follow, maybe I will find her
song performed by by Bangles
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Let America be America Again
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!
poem by Langston Hughes
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The leaf in the wind
The leaf in the wind
Missed the tree
The tree it was in
That made it be
It fell to the porch
A child held it
And gave it a stroke
Then gently left it
The wind came again
And took it to the sky
Then the sky rained
And it fell to lie
The things on the ground
Kept pushing it away
The wind had an angry sound
It wanted it in its way
So the wind blew
And picked up the leaf
And held it through
Earth’s grief and relief
No tree would claim
The young leaf left
Touched by time
Time itself had left
poem by Ragy Sandid
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Plastic
Oh a little bitty termite you know he come knockin' knockin' on my front door
Well he walked right in sat right down started chewin' on the kitchen floor
You know he chewed out the walls and the ceilings and the halls Lord knows he tried
But he kept gettin' thinner and he never got no dinner and finally he sat up and cried
He said it's plastic yeah he said it's plastic
Well you know it ain't no wood and it can't do me no good
Because it's plastic he said it's plastic
You know that everything's gonna be plastic by and by
Yeah an early one day in the month of May I went down to the beach
You know there were beauties and cuties in little bathin' suities
And all of them within my reach
Then a 38-24-36 miss just happened to be passin' my way
I said please don't think I'm nervy but you look so very curvy
Please tell me how you got that way
She said it's plastic she said it's just plastic
She said it's pretty as can be but you know that it ain't me
Because it's plastic she said it's plastic everything's gonna be plastic by and by
poem by Sheldon Allan Silverstein
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I remember back when I was a kid there was a comic strip called Plastic Man. His body was elastic and he could make his extremities as long as he wanted. As a youngster I didn't fully appreciate. But I'm now thinking Plastic Man was probably pretty popular with the ladies.
quote by Ben Affleck
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Love Letters
She held a pack of love letters tied with ribbons and bows.
these were the love letters that she would never show.
Every one of them was dated first to last
These were the letters that held a life past.
Times may pass and things may change
But memories stay the same.
The writing of love letters had slowly disappeared
But she held on to them from year to year.
She sat with the letters in her lap.
As the tears rolled down her eyes
He had said he would be with her
Till the day he died
And fifty years later
He met his maker
And was carried to the cemetery
by the undertaker.
The letters had been written
with tenderness and love
Proclaiming every thing
Even the stars above.
He said life was meaningless if with her
His life he could not share.
And losing her was something
he could not bear.
Now that he was gone and she
Was left all alone.
The house didn’t seem
like much of a home.
She knew her children would not understand
Why she held the love letters in her hand.
These were the memories that kept her alive
And on that she couldn’t deny.
But her mind and body was fading fast
And she knew she could not last.
So to her children she bequeathed
The letters that she cherished all her life
For that was her husband, and she was his wife.
These are the love letters that your father
Wrote to me when we were young and carefree.
He told me of all that life had to offer.
And of all the love he had for me
And that he wanted to raise a family.
When you read his letters you will know
Why I loved this man so.
And now it’s time for me to go.
Because your father awaits me on the other side
And we’ll be together for all of time
poem by Louis Rams
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The Death of Rebellion (Narrative)
She was a sweet young girl
The apple of her father's eyes
Her long hair blessed with curls
She was adored by all the guys.
Her father tried to set rules
His attempts at discipline,
To guide her from home to school
And to watch where she had been.
But the young Miss felt quite fenced
And rebelled like all young people,
With repeated lies and offense
She made her father miserable.
Now the young woman had a boyfriend
A fellow classmate with whom she went,
The young man she'd always defend
When with rules her father was bent.
One day without his knowledge,
The young sweethearts went for a date.
The days searching left him on edge,
When they found her, it was rather too late.
Any father will melt at the horror
Of finding his daughter so dead,
Twenty stab wounds from her young lover
Whose drug-crazed mind was addicted.
Yes the father loved her so much
But his child was warped in rebellion.
He could only grieve and watch
As she swallowed her own destruction.
'A fool spurns his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction
shows prudence.'
Proverbs 15: 5
.........................................
August 4,2009
Tarlac City
Philippines
poem by Cynthia Buhain-Baello
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I Pity The Poor Immigrant
I pity the poor immigrant
Who wishes he wouldve stayed home,
Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone.
That man whom with his fingers cheats
And who lies with evry breath,
Who passionately hates his life
And likewise, fears his death.
I pity the poor immigrant
Whose strength is spent in vain,
Whose heaven is like ironsides,
Whose tears are like rain,
Who eats but is not satisfied,
Who hears but does not see,
Who falls in love with wealth itself
And turns his back on me.
I pity the poor immigrant
Who tramples through the mud,
Who fills his mouth with laughing
And who builds his town with blood,
Whose visions in the final end
Must shatter like the glass.
I pity the poor immigrant
When his gladness comes to pass.
song performed by by Bob Dylan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Plastic
You got a plastic name and a plastic heart
You can play the game or you'll never start
I'm talkin' to you
You got a plastic house and a plastic fence
Gotta look around or you'll lose your friends
Am I gettin' through?
You got a plastic girl in a plastic bed
And she's in your house made of gingerbread
And you're in there too
Got a plastic smile on a plastic face
But it's underneath that you can't erase
But what can you do-do-do?
[CHORUS:]
Say Love-it's not that hard after all
(tell me what I want
song performed by by Alanis Morissette from Alanis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tear Off Your Own Head
Who dries your eyes when you cry real tears?
Who knows or cares what an imitation is?
Only you do
You can paint his nails
Make him wear high heels
Why waste time altering the hemline?
Or do you?
Tear off your own head
Tear off your own head
It's a doll revolution
You can bat your lashes
You can cut your strings
You can pull his hair with your moveable fingers
It looks so real
If one won't do it, so collect the set
Dress him in pink ribbons
Put him in a kitchenette
How does this feel?
Tear off your own head
Tear off your own head
It's a doll revolution
What's that sound?
It will turn you around
It's a doll revolution
They're taking over
And they're tearing it down
It's a doll revolution
You can pull and pinch him
'Til he cries and squeals
You can twist his body 'til it faces backwards
Those plastic features
You could make somebody a pretty little wife
But don't let anybody tell you how to live your life
Broken pieces
Tear off your own head
Tear off your own head
It's a doll revolution
Tear off your own head
Revolution
song performed by by Elvis Costello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Notes from my Diary
Sunday 19 August 2012
No Hope for Me
Sitting in the sun - sitting in the car,
nice and warm, my daughter's music
vibrating in my ears, here at the car-
wash, she's paying for the privilege
to drive the sturdy Suzuki
I showed her my notebook covered
with lined paper in violet, purple, pink
and green, she ungraciously remarked
she was better at it, she had learnt at
school as I made a mess of Desifix
She coolly informed me there was no
hope for me when she saw my purple
plastic bag which I carried to strengthen
my purple aura tapering off to violet
and soft pink - I dream…
Later the day - 15: 15
My Own Solar Version
Delighted I rediscovered the solar system
model in ‘Space, The Hands-On Approach
to Science' - which I had used to create my
own solar version on the sunroom floor using
string for the planet's orbits - a soccer ball was
the sun in the centre
Mercury's string orbit fluctuated a lot, Venus'
orbit fluctuated more, hard to form orbits on the
floor - Earth & Mars represented by coloured
balls, difficult to fill in Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto, orbits getting confused,
toys representing these planets
Thus the kids could see a solar system in two
dimensions - I love this book, love the library
as custodian of all the wonderful books that
fill me with ideas - wild and wonderful…
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Y.... River meets desert
A young river,
So strong
Nothing could stop it
Nothing went wrong
Big rocks in its way
No problem at all
It went over them
Around them if tall
But then it met the desert
Water sank deep into sand
Huge problem for the river
It looked like its life was to end
Desperately
It turned to our God
'Please, God help me
To get away from or over this spot'
A voice from above said
'Look at the wind in the sky
It crosses the desert so easily
So just stop to cry! '
'But I am not wind, I am water
How can I cross
Please help me
I am at a loss'
'Did you forget dear river, '
Said the voice from above
'Long time before you were a river
The wind carried you with love'
The river let its water evaporate
Allowed the wind to carry it once more
In its loving arms,
wind held the river as before
Across the desert they went
A lot of water in a big large cloud
And at the other side
The wind let it rain out
There the river again became strong
Even better and stronger than before
With much vigor it ran
For everyone to adore
Dear young men and women alike
If you meet with the desert or anything wrong
Remember who carried you
Before you became a river so strong
poem by Aufie Zophy
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Let Go
Let go said Bettina
I don’t want to live
any longer but he
wouldn’t let go of
her hand and she
hung over the side
of the roof of the high
building looking up
at him and then looking
down at the street a
long way below let go
she bellowed I don’t
want this world any
more I have had enough
but still he held on trying
to ring for help on his
cell phone looking over
the edge at the woman
hanging over the side
her hair blowing about
in the wind her skirt being
lifted up and down revealing
pink panties her eyes large
and dark as plums let me
go she bellowed louder I want
to die but all he could say
(his voice being carried off
on the wind’s wings) was why?
poem by Terry Collett
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The power
The couple that had something unusual
A power they shared that kept them as one
Some called it love though it was stronger
Through the trying times they clipped to it
Even at death they looked not to be scared
All they said was see you later to each other
And there they slept with smiles of freedom
We never discovered the power they shared
He owned nothing but his small brown book
His family had all vanished in an accident
That was all that he had left, we all thought
But he had something else that we knew not
We thought him mad and threw stones at him
All he said was father save these sons of yours
Then he closed his eyes with his face held up high
Never did we discover the power he held inside
The children that always sung songs of praise
Singing of the great power that we had never seen
They all came from a childrens’ home near by
Carried thankful and joyful faces like life was fare
Like they had lost nothing and had all they wanted
Their bus crushed as they travelled to a Church
All we heard them say last was, they had gone home’
It was that same power they too had and that day
I too received it and it blesses my life each day
poem by Caleb Tukahiirwa
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When I Was Young
(e. burdon, d. briggs)
Producer: carter
Album: the collected recordings (94), private dancer emi centenary edition (96)
B-side of the better be good to me single
The rooms were so much colder then
My father was a soldier then
The times were very hard
When I was young
When I was young
I smoked my first cigarette at ten
And for boys I had a bad yen
I had quite a ball
When I was young
When I was young
When I was young it was more important
Pain more painful, the laughter much louder, yeah
When I was young
When I was young
I met my first love at thirteen
He was brown, and I was pretty green
I learned quite a lot
When I was young
When I was young
When I was young it was more important
Pain more painful, the laughter much louder, yeah
When I was young
My faith was so much stronger then
I believed in fellow men
I was so much older then
When I was young
When I was young
When I was young
song performed by by Tina Turner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To Young To Die
Everybody
Don't want no war,
'Cos we're too young to die,
So many people,
All around the world,
Seen their brothers fry.
What's the motive?
In your madness.
You've made my people cry.
So politicians this time
Keep your distance.
'Cos we're too young to die.
You know we're too young to die,
You know we're too young to die,
You know we're too young to die,
You know we're too young to die,
What's the answer?
To our problems.
I think we've gone too high,
Little children,
Never said a word now,
But still they have to die.
It won't be long.
Dancing like we do now,
To put this sad world right.
So don't you worry,
Suffer no more,
'Cos we're too young to die.
You know we're too young to die,
You know we're too young to die,
You know we're too young to die,
You know we're too young to die,
All gone when they drop the bomb.
Can the politicians reassure?
'Cos here I am presuming that
Nobody wants a war
There's so many people praying
Just to find out if they're staying.
But lately stately governments
And disillusioned leaders,
So full of empty promises
But rarely do they feed us.
Put our backs against the wall,
Or don't we count at all?
Can you decide,
Are you mesmerised.
Do you know which side you're standing?
Cos when it falls gonna take us all.
Gotta know what we're demanding,
I never lie,
Can't your hear the cry,
Coming from on high,
WE'RE TOO YOUNG TO DIE
song performed by by Jamiroquai
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Listening to every Tom, Dick and Donkey
Come, we have a story, said the Old Man. Come, sit and I shall tell you all a little tale of a donkey, a boy and his father…and of strangers too…and many a busybody…
And the children sat round the campfire and the Old Man began his tale…
One day
(and this is many, many
uncountable days ago)
Father called Son
and he said:
‘Son
you are grown now
into a fine young lad
and you must learn
how to buy and sell
and make a profit
‘So, come let us go
you and I
to the market to see
what silver coins we can get
for this old donkey
in our shed’
2
And so Son and Dad
set out for the town market
across the sandy and rocky miles
and some way off
Dad grew tired and he said:
‘Ah, Son
this walk tires me and so
I shall ride the donkey
while you walk by the side;
so, come let us go
you and I
to the market to see
what silver coins we can get
for this old donkey
that I shall ride’
3
‘Ho, ho!
What do we have here? ’
came a voice
as the Dad sat riding the donkey
while the Son walked by the side
‘A cruel father you are, ’
said the Family Standards Officer
‘Get down, you grown man
and let the child ride! ’
And the Father was ashamed
and so he let the Son ride the donkey
and he walked beside
And the Family Standards Officer
was extremely pleased
and he filled up his forms
and he bade the Father and Son safe journey:
‘Ah, this is another
success story
of the Family Welfare Dept
where conscience has won the day
and the Son rides the donkey
and the Father walks beside’
4
A nd the Father and Son are gone but a mile, a mile - when another interruption came their way, heading straight their way….
‘What do we have here? ’
came a scream
and the Mandarin of the
State Morals Education
stopped the trio
and the Mandarin glared disapprovingly
at the boy riding the donkey and he said:
‘Where is your filial piety?
Know you not the son must do his duty
by the father?
Get off the donkey -
you young donkey!
and allow your father to ride
while you walk with reverence
and duty beside! ’
And so now we have the
Father on the donkey
and the Son walking beside
all three slowly on and on
Father and son
to the market to see
what silver coins
they might get
for this old donkey
that they have taken turns to ride
5
Then comes an old woman
and she mutters to herself as she passes by:
‘Ah, what’s come of life
that a father should ride and
allow the young to walk.’
And so the Father bids his Son
be a pillion rider with him on the donkey
and so they ride
merrily, merrily
on to the market
to see
what silver coins they can get
for this old donkey
that they both ride
5
But no sooner have they covered
but a mile, just a mile
with the respectable Father
and the filial Son
(both on the hapless donkey)
when a voice thunders out from the bush
and the Animal Rights Activist stands out
and he screams:
‘Oh, you cruel people
that you should ride a helpless donkey!
Shame on you!
Much better that you both
carried the creature! ’
And of course
the Son and Father
so reasonable and
always with an open mind
they jump off the donkey
and they carry
the donkey all the way
all the way
just four more miles
just four more miles
and they soon come into the market
carrying the donkey
and shouting:
‘Donkey for sale!
Donkey for sale! ’
6
And the buyers
at the markets
they see
this Father and Son
carrying the donkey
and screaming:
‘Donkey f or sale!
Donkey for sale! ’
And the buyers they say:
‘But it appears, Sirs,
there are
three donkeys for sale
three donkeys for sale!
In declaring
“Donkey for Sale! ”
when there are clearly three
are you offering three
for the price of one? ’
poem by Raj Arumugam
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