Mary_jo, I know little of Mississippi euphemisms; a pod of pepper goes in chili. I'm going to disregard Schuberts interpretation of love as meaning raw sex as in "Love for sale", which is a song that is not really about love for sale, but Schubert wouldn't understand that.
"Softly as in a morning sunrise" is a very important "love song", which is why so many artists record it.
"Softly As In a Morning Sunrise" graphically depicts the 3 stages of love; first you fall in love, next you go to heaven on earth, and last you go to hell after it's over because after being in heaven, normal hum drum life is hard to take.
When I hear the instrumental versions I still hear the words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkN4fm7E0cw