That does not at all jibe with Cat Stevens’ answer on what he intended with the song at all.
From here:
Stevens explained on The Chris Isaak Hour in 2009 that the actual inspiration for the song was his return to a career in music after nearly dying from a collapsed lung due to tuberculosis in 1969:
I was trying to relate to my life. I was at the point where it was beginning to happen and I was myself going into the world. I’d done my career before, and I was sort of warning myself to be careful this time around, because it was happening. It was not me writing about somebody specific, although other people may have informed the song, but it was more about me. It’s talking about losing touch with home and reality – home especially.
And just for the record I’ve never once got that vibe from the song. If anything, if he were talking to an actual woman (and stop to think that it could just as easily been told from the POV of a parent seeing his daughter–who he would OF COURSE always think of as a child–leaving home) he’s quite respectful of her choices and autonomy and is being wistful that she might be heading into danger that he won’t be around to protect her from but that nevertheless he acknowledges her right as a sovereign person to make her own choices even if they don’t turn out well for her.
Far as I’m concerned he has nothing to apologize for in this or any other world.