East Virginia

The speaker remembers meeting a woman while roaming away from home and describes falling deeply in love with her. The feeling grows from admiration into painful longing: he hopes she will return his love, but fears she may belong to someone else. Even imagining death does not end his wish to be remembered by her.

Several images make the emotion vivid. Her red lips and the lilies on her breast present her as beautiful and delicate, though the lyrics do not explain what the flowers mean. The “dark holler” where the sun refuses to shine is an image of choosing loneliness and gloom over watching her love another man. The ache in his breast turns emotional suffering into physical pain.

The song’s speaker may be expressing sincere devotion, but his love is not clearly returned, and he seems to know little about the woman beyond her appearance. His invitation to meet him at the gate sounds hopeful, while the closing request, made as he imagines himself dead, carries hurt and perhaps reproach. “Think on way you done” suggests he feels she has treated him badly, but the lyrics leave the circumstances unclear. The song can therefore sound tender and sorrowful at once, with a hint of bitterness.