The narrator is looking back throughout the song. He's remembering his old girl, but unfortunately he "didn't know at the time, that she was something else," so, the girl got away from him.
Presumably right after they broke up- before he was over her at least- he saw her through a shop window, and instead of trying to talk to her, potentially to reconcile their relationship, he walked past and smoked a cigarette for comfort, telling himself "smoke your smoke, move on."
Now, a "few years" removed from the incident- after realizing that "she was something else" he wishes he could go back to that store window, and she'd still be standing there, "like a statue."
The narrator is looking back throughout the song. He's remembering his old girl, but unfortunately he "didn't know at the time, that she was something else," so, the girl got away from him.
Presumably right after they broke up- before he was over her at least- he saw her through a shop window, and instead of trying to talk to her, potentially to reconcile their relationship, he walked past and smoked a cigarette for comfort, telling himself "smoke your smoke, move on."
Now, a "few years" removed from the incident- after realizing that "she was something else" he wishes he could go back to that store window, and she'd still be standing there, "like a statue."
It really is a beautiful, very relatable song.