This is a very sad song: boy and sweetheart are saying goodbye because he can't stand "foreign chains around us". He's going to "join the bold, united men while soft winds shake the barley." While they have an affectionate farewell a sniper shoots the girl, "...and on my breast in blood she died while soft winds shook the barley." He goes out for revenge, then lays "my true love's clay-cold corpse where I full-soon may follow. As 'round her grave I wander drear--noon, night, and morning early, with breaking heart whene'er I hear the wind that shakes the barley." Very sad report on some reasons why war & conquest are the wrong ways to relate to people. Belligerants attend...cease belligering.             Tw