Yehuda Amichai

Once a Great Love

Once a Great Love - meaning Summary

Memory Split by Love

The poem describes how a single profound love divided the speaker’s life into before-and-after. Time has eased the pain and brought distance, yet the memory persists like an unseen horizon: a marker that clarifies what cannot be directly perceived. The speaker compares this knowledge to standing in the Judean desert seeing a sign reading "Sea Level" — an indirect certainty — and recognizing the loved one’s presence everywhere at "face Level."

Read Complete Analyses

Once a great love cut my life in two. The first part goes on twisting at some other place like a snake cut in two. The passing years have calmed me and brought healing to my heart and rest to my eyes. And I'm like someone standing in the Judean desert, looking at a sign: "Sea Level" He cannot see the sea, but he knows. Thus I remember your face everywhere at your "face Level."

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