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"For Want of a Nail" is a proverb, having numerous variations over several centuries, reminding that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences.
Analysis
The proverb has come down in many variations over the centuries. It describes a situation in which a failure to anticipate or correct some initially small dysfunction leads by successively more critical stages to an egregious outcome. The rhyme's implied small difference in initial conditions is the lack of a spare horseshoe nail, relative to a condition of its availability. At a more literal level, it expresses the importance of military logistics in warfare.
Such chains of causality are perceived only in hindsight. No one ever lamented, upon seeing his unshod horse, that the kingdom would eventually fall because of it.
A related proverb is "A stitch in time saves nine." A somewhat similar idea is referred to in the metaphor known as The Camel's nose.
The word "want" in the poem refers to a definition of "want" meaning "lack," rather than "desire", from 1150-1200 Middle English wante < Old Norse vanta "to lack".