I woke up and found that this thread had been going through my subconscious mind last night.

The narrator ('I') was a person cf some importance, (shipowner, shipwright, ship's officer,)and he was in the forest on business, such as seeking timber.
He meets this young lady (the lass) and falls madly in love, and the fact that she is betrothed is of no matter to him in his madness.
He presses his suit.
Relatives and friends of the couple try to put him off, gently. (Spoke ill of her.) This doesn't work.
The hell with him, the couple marry. He crashes the wedding, uninvited. He eats and drinks and sits glowering.
Said friends and relatives point out that she wants to live near home, and he wants to take her away.
He says he is going to die of love and wants to be buried nearby so that she will always be sorry.
He doesn't die, but tells a poet the story, and the poet writes the song.

If you substitute 'white roses' for 'strawberries' it seems lyrically better to me. The verse means, again, 'she couldn't live there, and he couldn't live here.'