I believe this song depicts a romance of his where he has made a mistake. Now the desire to be back together is haunting him. He then refers to Haig vs Boneparte as he will continue to keep taking casualties in the hopes of this woman than retreating such as Boneparte did (island of St. Helena). This is nicely followed up by the pleading of her image to leave and followed after that by the thought of her being gone to express that it is still there. Then the last two verses are repeats of the first two to represent the looping thought that her leaving him will always torment him. Taking casualties like Haig.
I believe this song depicts a romance of his where he has made a mistake. Now the desire to be back together is haunting him. He then refers to Haig vs Boneparte as he will continue to keep taking casualties in the hopes of this woman than retreating such as Boneparte did (island of St. Helena). This is nicely followed up by the pleading of her image to leave and followed after that by the thought of her being gone to express that it is still there. Then the last two verses are repeats of the first two to represent the looping thought that her leaving him will always torment him. Taking casualties like Haig.