I see this song as a man only having solace in his one true love. This being about her death is plausible but I think it is not the main point. He says "there will always be suffering, it flows through life like water" and after that verse everything leaves. The boatman is gone and the loons are hiding and the scene that he described has passed but her love still remains. If she has gone than that is even more romantic imo for her love remains with him and protects him from the pains of life even after she has left him. However he just stays in the Lime Tree Arbour just to remember her and relive it; it's equally sad.
I see this song as a man only having solace in his one true love. This being about her death is plausible but I think it is not the main point. He says "there will always be suffering, it flows through life like water" and after that verse everything leaves. The boatman is gone and the loons are hiding and the scene that he described has passed but her love still remains. If she has gone than that is even more romantic imo for her love remains with him and protects him from the pains of life even after she has left him. However he just stays in the Lime Tree Arbour just to remember her and relive it; it's equally sad.