"The Children March" is a poem by Australian poet Elizabeth Riddell.
The poem begins "The children of the world are on the march" referring to all children everywhere losing their innocence and their childhoods due to the war.
The poem was written during World War II.
In his commentary on the poem in 60 Classic Australian Poems Geoff Page noted “'The Children March' is not especially typical of Riddell's poetry; it is an example of her craftsmanship at its best and a poem of powerful emotional impact"'.
[3] After its initial publication in the Australian Poetry 1943 anthology in 1944, the poem was reprinted as follows: