nehalenia pointed out to me that this was based on a folk song (I guess "Ballad pastiche" in the author's note didn't sink in...I think maybe the capitalization made me think "Ballad" was someone's name) and so I looked it up. You can imagine my forehead-slapping "Ohhhhh, I get it now!" moment.
It's even time-appropriate (although I don't imagine you picked your posting order?), since a certain rendering of that type of song, with the female chasing the male, is referred to as a "Beltane mystery" in some Pagan groups.