I agree that the lyrics are literal and very eloquently written. Another thought I've always had for this song is about the girl who chases Wildfire off into the blizzard. She is indeed a legend, and is haunting not only the author of the song, but others, the "They" in "They say she died one winter." "They" are the neighbors or people who knew or knew of her. "She comes down from Yellow Mountain" is how she haunts them, riding the Pony she died chasing. Her Legend resonated with the author, and now he knows what it means to take a risk and chase something like she did, to the death. It would be easy to write off the blind loyalty and love for the pony as dangerous youthful exuberance until he realized how much he loved his land and faces losing it. Now he's ready to give up his life after his final attempt at chasing his dream. It's always been a sad song but still a beautiful one.