I see it as a nostalgia/regret/loneliness song. First, the narrator is nostalgic for a mythical time (when people lived to be 300 years and there were giants). Then, he's nostalgic for something in his own life (his old house, his wife, friends). That was a long time ago, when he was young (the spring). He's old now--I get to that in a second.
The loneliness is pretty clear: he's tired of being alone on the hill, where nothing grows. It's a bad place.
And the regret: he's old and he's going to die alone on the hill (it's where he's going to eat his last meal). Thus, he returns to the mythical nostalgia, when people lived 300 years, and perhaps he could have recaptured that which he lost, when he was young.
I see it as a nostalgia/regret/loneliness song. First, the narrator is nostalgic for a mythical time (when people lived to be 300 years and there were giants). Then, he's nostalgic for something in his own life (his old house, his wife, friends). That was a long time ago, when he was young (the spring). He's old now--I get to that in a second.
The loneliness is pretty clear: he's tired of being alone on the hill, where nothing grows. It's a bad place.
And the regret: he's old and he's going to die alone on the hill (it's where he's going to eat his last meal). Thus, he returns to the mythical nostalgia, when people lived 300 years, and perhaps he could have recaptured that which he lost, when he was young.