All this focus on the word massa and none on the the word poor. Was he simply trying to convey that massa was poor because everyone left him. Poor in spirit. The song is not about the massa; it's about his return to be be buried with his loved ones: a longing for the past that he knows deep down is gone forever.
The beauty of lyrics is not in the words themselves, but the interpretation of the reader. What I read and view in my mind differs from everyone else. Ah! DIVERSITY