Mėtaujėla Mėtaujo lyrics and meaning

This song, with the refrain "Mėtaujo lylio," can be understood as a poor orphan's lament. At the beginning the song addresses a poor orphan and asks why the face is so sorrowful and why the orphan weeps so bitterly. These questions can be read as compassion for the unhappy person.

The answer is that the little treasure and all possessions have been lost. This loss can be understood as complete impoverishment, taking away the person's support.

The song then asks where the orphan will find shelter: by a little tree, or by a little stone. But the tree is branched and the stone is cold. These images can be read as the absence of shelter: neither tree nor stone gives real comfort. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of orphaned loss and homelessness is clear.

A second interpretive version is possible. The song may also be heard as a lament for someone who has already departed. The moaning refrain "Mėtaujo lylio" and the constant address by name recall the intonation of laments and lullabies, through which Lithuanians mourned the dead and grieved losses. In that case the question "where will you find shelter, by a tree or by a stone" would sound like a search for the final dwelling of the person being mourned, and the cold stone and branched tree would become grave markers. This remains a possible assumption, but it explains the deep, almost funerary sadness of the song.