THE BIG PARADE

AP in-house Olympics poet Fred Lief tries his hand at recapping the march of nations at Friday's opening ceremony:

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The Greeks go first and they're put to good use

In saluting the games ? or is it Zeus?

The athletes march. They cavort and they shriek

From the Cayman Islands to Mozambique,

Country by country, border to border

All in neat alphabetical order.

Australians mug for the cameras and dance.

Look: There's Tony Parker, walking with France.

The guy from Fiji is wearing no shirt.

Check out San Marino: high heels, short skirt.

In one strong statement for fashion and sports

Comes Bermuda's team in Bermuda shorts.

That blazing sky is no supernova

But Russia's flag-bearer, Sharapova.

Onward they march. Can there be many more?

Hey, they're still only up to Singapore

And just when this slog is getting real old

The Brits take the stage decked in white and gold.

Then the night closes and the games begin,

Quoting Sir Paul: Let it out, let it in.

?Fred Lief ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fredlief

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EDITOR'S NOTE ? "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item, and get even more AP updates from the Games here: http://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/big-parade-152338611--oly.html

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