When The Children Cry

The song speaks to a child about a world troubled by violence and destruction. The speaker feels unable to explain the fear children experience, and asks what adults have done to the world. Its mood combines sorrow and guilt with hope: the future may be better if the next generation can create it.

“Dry your crying eyes” is a tender way of asking the child to stop crying and find comfort. The idea that children “must build again” suggests that adults have damaged the world and younger people may need to repair it. Their singing represents hope and a fresh beginning, while fighting among children echoes the larger violence the song condemns.

The lyrics imagine an ideal future without wars or political divisions, united by love, peace, and faith in God. This can be read as a heartfelt plea for people to cooperate, though “one united world under God” may mean different things to listeners with different beliefs. The song does not explain how such change would happen; instead, it presents children as a symbol of possibility and asks adults to pass on a better example.