another ballad

[Luckieman]

Thanks busker.
The moon's significant as the source of the 'lunacy' and 'through leafless boughs' is an invocation of Black Anis, the fiend that pounces on travellers from the branches of trees when the moon is full. She's an aspect of the moon goddess to which the willow is sacred, and I think she's originally the black panther, which is known for that habit. The rose is found as part of the madness and is required for the blood. I suspect what you call cliches are simply well-recognised components of myth which I have difficulty seeing my way in this peice without. But I'm still open to comment once the imagery is understood. And BTW it's very far from a love song - it's partly about vengeance and partly about losing the speaker's soul. But maybe this is all too abstract for modern culture.

The moon as a source of lunacy is well understood, though it’s not meaningful when the source of the madness is rejection. The myth is pointless.
Everything else you mentioned is reaching, not sufficiently borne out by the poem, nor particularly interesting.

The source of the madness isn't the rejection - it's looking at the moon through the branches, which is sacrilege. Sorry, I think I made the whole premise too complicated.