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Emperor Tenchi
Coarse the rush-mat roof
Sheltering the harvest-hut
Of the autumn rice-field;
And my sleeves are growing wet
With the moisture dripping through.
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Empress Jito
The spring has passed
And the summer come again;
For the silk-white robes,
So they say, are spread to dry
On the "Mount of Heaven's Perfume."
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Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Oh, the foot-drawn trail
Of the mountain-pheasant's tail
Drooped like down-curved branch!
Through this long, long-dragging night
Must I lie in bed alone?
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Yamabe no Akahito
When I take the path
To Tago's coast, I see
Perfect whiteness laid
On Mount Fuji's lofty peak
By the drift of falling snow.
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Sarumaru
In the mountain depths,
Treading through the crimson leaves,
The wandering stag calls.
When I hear the lonely cry,
Sad--how sad!--the autumn is.
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Otomo no Yakamochi
If I see that bridge
That is spanned by flights of magpies
Across the arc of heaven
Made white with a deep-laid frost,
Then the night is almost past.
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Abe no Nakamaro
When I look up at
The wide-stretched plain of heaven,
Is the moon the same
That rose on Mount Mikasa
In the land of Kasuga?
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The Monk Kisen
My lowly hut is
Southeast from the capital.
Thus I choose to live.
And the world in which I live
Men have named a "Mount of Gloom."
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Ono no Komachi
Color of the flower
Has already faded away,
While in idle thoughts
My life passes vainly by,
As I watch the long rains fall.
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Semimaru
Truly, this is where
Travelers who go or come
Over parting ways--
Friends or strangers--all must meet:
The gate of "Meeting Hill."
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Ono no Takamura
Over the wide sea
Towards its many distant isles
My ship sets sail.
Will the fishing boats thronged here
Proclaim my journey to the world?
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The Monk Henjo
Let the winds of heaven
Blow through the paths among the clouds
And close their gates.
Then for a while I could detain
These messengers in maiden form.
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Emperor Yozei
From Tsukuba's peak
Falling waters have become
Mina's still, full flow:
So my love has grown to be
Like the river's quiet deeps.
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Minamoto no Toru
Like Michinoku prints
Of the tangled leaves of ferns,
It is because of you
That I have become confused;
But my love for you remains.
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Emperor Koko
It is for your sake
That I walk the fields in spring,
Gathering green herbs,
While my garment's hanging sleeves
Are speckled with falling snow.
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Ariwara no Yukihira
Though we are parted,
If on Mount Inaba's peak
I should hear the sound
Of the pine trees growing there,
I'll come back again to you.
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Ariwara no Narihira
Even when the gods
Held sway in the ancient days,
I have never heard
That water gleamed with autumn red
As it does in Tatta's stream
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Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
The waves are gathered
On the shore of Sumi Bay,
And in the gathered night,
When in dreams I go to you,
I hide from people's eyes.
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Lady Ise
Even for a time
Short as a piece of the reeds
In Naniwa's marsh,
We must never meet again:
Is this what you are asking me?
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Prince Motoyoshi
In this dire distress
My life is meaningless.
So we must meet now,
Even though it costs my life
In the Bay of Naniwa.
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The Monk Sosei
Just because she said,
"In a moment I will come,"
I've awaited her
Until the moon of daybreak,
In the long month, has appeared.
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Fun'ya no Yasuhide
It is by its breath
That autumn's leaves of trees and grass
Are wasted and driven.
So they call this mountain wind
The wild one, the destroyer.
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Oe no Chisato
As I view the moon,
Many things come into my mind,
And my thoughts are sad;
Yet it's not for me alone,
That the autumn time has come.
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Sugawara no Michizane
At the present time,
Since I could bring no offering,
See Mount Tamuke!
Here are brocades of red leaves,
As a tribute to the gods.
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Fujiwara no Sadakata
If your name is true,
Trailing vine of "Meeting Hill,"
Isn't there some way,
Hidden from people's gaze,
That you can draw her to my side?
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Fujiwara no Tadahira
If the maple leaves
On Ogura mountain
Could only have hearts,
They would longingly await
The emperor's pilgrimage.
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Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Over Mika's plain,
Gushing forth and flowing free,
Is Izumi's stream.
I do not know if we have met:
Why, then, do I long for her?
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Minamoto no Muneyuki
Winter loneliness
In a mountain village grows
Only deeper, when
Guests are gone, and leaves and grass
Are withered: troubling thoughts.
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Oshikochi no Mitsune
If it were my wish
To pick the white chrysanthemums,
Puzzled by the frost
Of the early autumn time,
I by chance might pluck the flower.
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Mibu no Tadamine
Like the morning moon,
Cold, unpitying was my love.
And since we parted,
I dislike nothing so much
As the breaking light of day.
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Sakanoue no Korenori
At the break of day,
Just as though the morning moon
Lightened the dim scene,
Yoshino's village lay
In a haze of falling snow.
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Harumichi no Tsuraki
In a mountain stream
There is a wattled barrier
Built by the busy wind.
Yet it's only maple leaves,
Powerless to flow away.
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Ki no Tomonori
In the peaceful light
Of the ever-shining sun
In the days of spring,
Why do the cherry's new-blown blooms
Scatter like restless thoughts?
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Fujiwara no Okikaze
Who is still alive
When I have grown so old
That I can call my friends?
Even Takasago's pines
No longer offer comfort.
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Ki no Tsurayuki
The depths of the hearts
Of humankind cannot be known.
But in my birthplace
The plum blossoms smell the same
As in the years gone by.
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Kiyohara no Fukayabu
In the summer night
The evening still seems present,
But the dawn is here.
To what region of the clouds
Has the wandering moon come home?
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Bun'ya no Asayasu
In the autumn fields
When the heedless wind blows by
Over the pure-white dew,
How the myriad unstrung gems
Are scattered everywhere around
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Lady Ukon
Though he forsook me,
For myself I do not care:
He made a promise,
And his life, who is forsworn,
Oh how pitiful that is.
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Minamoto no Hitoshi
Bamboo growing
Among the tangled reeds
Like my hidden love:
But it is too much to bear
That I still love her so.
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Taira no Kanemori
Though I would hide it,
In my face it still appears--
My fond, secret love.
And now he questions me:
"Is something bothering you?"
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Mibu no Tadami
It is true I love,
But the rumor of my love
Had gone far and wide,
When people should not have known
That I had begun to love.
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Kiyohara no Motosuke
Our sleeves were wet with tears
As pledges that our love--
Will last until
Over Sue's Mount of Pines
Ocean waves are breaking.
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Fujiwara no Atsutada
I have met my love.
When I compare this present
With feelings of the past,
My passion is now as if
I have never loved before.
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Fujiwara no Asatada
If it should happen
That we never met again,
I would not complain;
And I doubt that she or I
Would feel that we were left alone.
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Fujiwara no Koremasa
Surely there is none
Who will speak a pitying word
About my lost love.
Now my folly's fitting end
Is my own nothingness.
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Sone no Yoshitada
Like a mariner
Sailing over Yura's strait
With his rudder gone:
Where, over the deep of love,
The end lies, I do not know.
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The Monk Egyo
To the dim cottage
Overgrown with thick-leaved vines
In its loneliness
Comes the dreary autumn time:
But there no people come.
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Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Like a driven wave,
Dashed by fierce winds on a rock,
So am I: alone
And crushed upon the shore,
Remembering what has been.
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Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Like the guard's fires
Kept at the imperial gateway--
Burning through the night,
Dull in ashes through the day--
Is the love aglow in me.
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Fujiwara no Yoshitaka
For your precious sake,
Once my eager life itself
Was not dear to me.
But now it is my heart's desire
It may long, long years endure.
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Fujiwara no Sanekata
How can I tell her
How fierce my love for her is?
Will she understand
That the love I feel for her
Burns like Ibuki's fire plant?
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Fujiwara no Michinobu
Though I know indeed
That the night will come again
After day has dawned,
Still, in truth, I hate the sight
Of the morning's coming light.
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The Mother of Michitsuna
Lying all alone,
Through the hours of the night,
Till the daylight comes:
Can you realize at all
The emptiness of that night?
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The Mother of Gido Sanshi
If remembering me
Will for him in future years
Be too difficult,
It would be well this very day
That I should end my life.
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Fujiwara no Kinto
Though the waterfall
Ceased its flowing long ago,
And its sound is stilled,
Yet, in name it ever flows,
And in fame may yet be heard.
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Lady Izumi Shikibu
Soon my life will close.
When I am beyond this world
And have forgotten it,
Let me remember only this:
One final meeting with you.
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Lady Murasaki Shikibu
Meeting on the path:
But I cannot clearly know
If it was he,
Because the midnight moon
In a cloud had disappeared.
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Daini no Sanmi, Lady Kataiko
As Mount Arima
Sends its rustling winds across
Ina's bamboo plains,
I will be just as steadfast
And never will forget you.
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Lady Akazome Emon
Better to have slept
Care-free, than to keep vain watch
Through the passing night,
Till I saw the lonely moon
Traverse her descending path.
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Lady Koshikibu
By Oe Mountain
The road to Ikuno
Is far away,
And neither have I beheld
Nor crossed its bridge of heaven.
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Lady Ise no Osuke
Eight-fold cherry flowers
That at Nara--ancient seat
Of our state--have bloomed,
In our nine-fold palace court
Shed their sweet perfume today.
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Lady Sei Shonagon
The rooster's crowing
In the middle of the night
Deceived the hearers;
But at Osaka's gateway
The guards are never fooled.
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Fujiwara no Michimasa
Is there any way
Except by a messenger
To send these words to you?
If I could, I'd come to you
To say goodbye forever.
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Fujiwara no Sadayori
In the early dawn
When the mists on Uji River
Slowly lift and clear,
From the shallows to the deep,
The stakes of fishing nets appear.
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Lady Sagami
Even when your hate
Makes me stain my sleeves with tears
In cold misery,
Worse than hate and misery
Is the loss of my good name.
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Abbot Gyoson
On a mountain slope,
Solitary, uncompanioned,
Stands a cherry tree.
Except for you, lonely friend,
To others I am unknown.
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Lady Suo
If I lay my head
Upon his arm in the dark
Of a short spring night,
This innocent dream pillow
Will be the death of my good name.
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Emperor Sanjo
Though I do not want
To live on in this floating world,
If I remain here,
Let me remember only
This midnight and this moonrise.
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The Monk Noin
By the wind storm's blast
From Mimuro's mountain slopes
Maples leaves are torn,
Which turn Tatsuta River
Into a rich brocade.
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The Monk Ryosen
In my loneliness
I leave my little hut.
When I look around,
Everywhere it is the same:
One lone, darkening autumn eve.
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Minamoto no Tsunenobu
When the evening comes,
From the rice leaves at my gate,
Gentle knocks are heard,
And, into my round rush-hut,
Enters autumn's roaming breeze.
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Lady Kii
Famous are the waves
That break on Takashi beach
In noisy arrogance.
If I should go near that shore.
I would only wet my sleeves.
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Oe no Masafusa
On that far mountain
On the slope below the peak
Cherries are in flower.
Oh, let the mountain mists
Not arise to hide the scene.
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Minamoto no Toshiyori
It was not for this
I prayed at the holy shrine:
That she would become
As pitiless and as cold
As the storms on Hase's hills.
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Fujiwara no Mototoshi
As dew promises
New life to the thirsty plant,
So did your vow to me.
Yet the year has passed away,
And autumn has come again.
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Fujiwara no Tadamichi
Over the wide sea
As I sail and look around,
It appears to me
That the white waves, far away,
Are the ever shining sky.
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Emperor Sutoku
Though a swift stream is
Divided by a boulder
In its headlong flow,
Though divided, on it rushes,
And at last unites again.
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Minamoto no Kanemasa
Guard of Suma Gate,
From your sleep, how many nights
Have you awakened
At the cries of sanderlings,
Flying from Awaji Island?
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Fujiwara no Akisuke
See how clear and bright
Is the moonlight finding ways
Through the riven clouds
That, with drifting autumn wind,
Gracefully float in the sky.
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Lady Horikawa
Is it forever
That he hopes our love will last?
He did not answer.
And now my daylight thoughts
Are as tangled as my black hair.
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Fujiwara no Sanesada
When I turned my look
Toward the place where I had heard
The cuckoo's call,
The only thing I found
Was the moon of early dawn.
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The Monk Doin
Though in deep distress
Through your cruel blow, my life
Still is left to me.
But I cannot keep my tears;
They break forth from my grief.
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Fujiwara no Toshinari
From this world I think
That there is nowhere to escape.
I wanted to hide
In the mountains' farthest depths;
But there I hear the stag's cry.
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Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
If I should live long,
Then perhaps the present days
May be dear to me,
Just as past time filled with grief
Comes quietly back in thought.
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The Monk Shun'e
Through an unsleeping night
Longingly I pass the hours,
While the day's dawn lags.
And now the bedroom shutters
Are keeping light and life from me.
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The Monk Saigyo
Should I blame the moon
For bringing forth this sadness,
As if it pictured grief?
Lifting up my troubled face,
I regard it through my tears.
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The Monk Jakuren
An autumn eve:
See the valley mists arise
Among the fir leaves
That still hold the dripping wet
Of the chill day's sudden showers.
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Attendant to Empress Koka
After one brief night--
Short as a piece of the reeds
Growing in Naniwa bay--
Must I forever long for him
With my whole heart, till life ends?
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Princess Shokushi
Like a string of gems
Grown weak, my life will break now;
For if I live on,
All I do to hide my love
May at last grow weak and fail.
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Attendant to Empress Inpu
Let me show him these!
Even the fishermen's sleeves
On Ojima's shores,
Though wet through and wet again,
Do not so change their colors.
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Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
In my cold bed,
Drawing close my folded quilt,
I sleep alone,
While all through the frosty night
I hear a cricket's lonely sound.
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Lady Sanuki
Like a rock at sea,
At ebb-tide hidden from view,
Is my tear-drenched sleeve:
Never for a moment dry,
And no one knows it is there.
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Minamoto no Sanetomo
If only our world
Could be always as it is!
How moving the sight
Of the little fishing boat
Drawn by ropes along the bank.
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Fujiwara no Masatsune
From Mount Yoshino
Blows a chill, autumnal wind.
In the deepening night
The ancient village shivers:
Sounds of beating cloth I hear.
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Abbot Jien
From the monastery
On Mount Hiei I look out
On this world of tears,
And though I am unworthy,
I shield it with my black sleeves.
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Fujiwara no Kintsune
Not the snow of flowers,
That the hurrying wild wind whirls
Round the garden court:
What withers and falls away
In this place is I myself.
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Fujiwara no Sadaie, Fujiwara no Teika
Like the salt sea-weed,
Burning in the evening calm.
On Matsuo's shore,
All my being is aflame,
Awaiting her who does not come.
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Fujiwara no Ietaka
To Nara's brook comes
Evening, and the rustling winds
Stir the oak-trees' leaves.
Not a sign of summer left
But the sacred bathing there.
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Emperor Gotoba
For some men I grieve;
Some men are hateful to me;
And this wretched world
To me, with all my sadness,
Is a place of misery.
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Emperor Juntoku
In this ancient house,
Paved with a hundred stones,
Ferns grow in the eaves;
But numerous as they are,
My old memories are more.
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