Erdbeermund

The speaker expresses intense physical longing for a woman, especially for her mouth and body. The repeated refrain makes the desire sound almost obsessive: he says he has cried or shouted until his lungs are sore. The mood also includes loneliness and regret. When she is absent, he describes his days as a sea of tears and feels that he has given up the best summers of his life.

Several images turn desire into a landscape. The “strawberry mouth” suggests red lips, sweetness, and sensual pleasure; the “strawberry valley” extends that image into a place of intimacy. Clover making a net for the couple’s first night may suggest nature forming a private shelter around them. The speaker’s “star-spouse” is a poetic way to imagine himself as her destined partner, though it does not prove that she sees the relationship the same way.

The song can be read as a passionate celebration of reunion, but also as a one-sided or memory-driven longing. The lines about her having kept her mouth for him imply intimacy and devotion, yet the speaker’s repeated insistence may reveal how strongly he wants to believe in that bond. The images of a valley and ash suggest both sensual life and something worn away, leaving the relationship’s present state uncertain.