If All The Children On The Earth A poem by John Ritsos on the importance of friendship, peace and the bond between man and nature
If all the children on the earth • •
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If all the children on the earth were holding their hands firmly. boys and girls one by one in a row and were starting to dance the circle would be large enough to hug the earth once. If all the children on the earth called the adults to leave their affairs and join the dance the circle would be large enough to hug the earth twice. Then would come the birds the flowers would come and Spring would also come itself to get into the dance then the circle would be greater to hug the earth three times, so I believe.
John Ritsos • •
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Ritsos is considered one of the five greatest Greek poets of the twentieth century. The French poet Louis Aragon once said that Ritsos was "the greatest poet of our age." He was unsuccessfully proposed nine times for the Nobel Prize for Literature. When he won the Lenin Peace Prize (also known as the Stalin Peace Prize prior to 1956) he declared "this prize is more important for me than the Nobel". His poetry was banned at times in Greece due to his left wing beliefs. Notable works by Ritsos include Tractor (1934), Pyramids (1935), Epitaph (1936), and Vigil (1941–1953