Yehuda Amichai

Forgetting Someone

memory lyric poem reflective

Forgetting Someone - meaning Summary

Memory Returns Via Light

The poem compares trying to forget a person to leaving a backyard light burning. The image shows forgetting as an act that paradoxically produces a persistent presence: the very "light" meant to fade actually keeps the memory illuminated. The brief, domestic simile suggests that deliberate omission can become a constant reminder, so memory returns not through intention but through the traces left behind.

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Forgetting someone is like forgetting to turn off the light in the backyard so it stays lit all the next day But then it is the light that makes you remember.

Griffin Kurtz
Griffin Kurtz January 13. 2026

+100 goyim points

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