"Songs" of sorrow I & II is a pessimistic poem. It is a dirge in which the living blame the ancestors for the hardship and difficulties that their departure has left behind. Much of this meaning is conveyed through several important images used in the poem.
The desolation and helplessness that has occurred is presented right at the beginning of "Songs of Sorrow I" in the image of the 'chameleon faces'. The image is appropriate as it conjures up the picture of something that cannot be wiped away or cleaned. It is this,catastrophe that is emphasized by the use of this image.
A series of other images closely associated with desolation, destruction and even death is used in successive parts of the poem. References can be made to images like the "sun and rain" that burn and beat respectively; the gun that can no longer be fired because there are no sons; other plant and animal images such as "the sharp stumps;" the falling "tree" which also symbolizes the death of Agosu, an important family elder, the" broken fences"; the "snake", the "crow" and the "vulture" which are all destructive creatures. The "wilderness" is not spared in reference to its desolation.
The overwhelming feeling in the poem is that nothing has gone right since the departure of the ancestors and only suffering remains 'or survivors like the persona. Even those who travel and return have to confront a life of misery. An entire civilization or way of life represented by "Kpeti"s great household" is no more. What are left are the broken fences now taken over by entire strangers.