I agree with RitaLMNOP. My take is that the person is afraid of getting hurt, so he sabotages relationships as soon as he senses he's getting too close to someone. "Anything that may desert you / So it cannot hurt you". He closes himself off from the other person and his own feelings, and he doesn't realize how much his actions affect the person he's rejecting. He ends up devastating the people who care about him. It seems like the singer might be in love with this person and wants to pursue the relationship despite knowing how he reacts to intimacy, maybe even thinking that there's a chance she could be the one to save him from himself.
I agree with RitaLMNOP. My take is that the person is afraid of getting hurt, so he sabotages relationships as soon as he senses he's getting too close to someone. "Anything that may desert you / So it cannot hurt you". He closes himself off from the other person and his own feelings, and he doesn't realize how much his actions affect the person he's rejecting. He ends up devastating the people who care about him. It seems like the singer might be in love with this person and wants to pursue the relationship despite knowing how he reacts to intimacy, maybe even thinking that there's a chance she could be the one to save him from himself.