This song is about the memory of deep love after loss — not only the pain of losing someone, but the strange beauty of having loved them at all.
Rather than focusing on anger or regret, the song reflects on how powerful love once felt, and how those emotions continue to live quietly inside the heart long after the relationship, or the person, is gone.
The opening verses look back on a time when love felt certain, consuming, and alive. The narrator remembers waking beside someone they adored, watching them sleep in the stillness of morning light. These moments are described with tenderness and intimacy, capturing the quiet routines that often become the most painful memories after loss.
One of the strongest emotional themes in the song is the contrast between permanence and fragility. At one time, the love felt eternal:
“That deep eternal pounding
I knew it from the start”
Yet life changed. Time moved forward. Something once central slowly disappeared.
The song deliberately leaves the exact nature of the loss open to interpretation. It could be:
death,
separation,
emotional distance,
or simply the passing of time itself.
That ambiguity gives the piece universality, allowing listeners to place their own experiences inside the lyrics.
The bridge moves into a more reflective and philosophical space. The narrator acknowledges absence and silence, but also suggests that real love never completely disappears:
“It leaves a quiet footprint
Forever on the heart”
That line becomes the emotional core of the song. The relationship may be gone, but its emotional imprint remains permanent.
The ending is especially poignant because it returns to one small, intimate memory:
the image of someone sleeping peacefully beside the narrator in the early morning light. Rather than ending with despair, the song closes with remembrance — almost like preserving one fragile moment from a vanished world.
Musically and emotionally, the piece feels like a classic slow ballad in the tradition of deeply emotional 1960s and 70s love songs:
soft piano, gentle strings, restrained vocals, and an atmosphere built around vulnerability and memory rather than dramatic heartbreak.
At its heart, the song is about:
remembering lost love,
longing for moments that can never fully return,
the permanence of emotional memory,
and the idea that love, once truly experienced, leaves traces inside us forever.
Verse 1
I used to know what love was
But many years have now passed
A face I used to cherish most
Simply did not last
I still remember feelings
So strong inside my heart
That deep eternal pounding
I knew it from the start
Verse 2
I used to wake each morning
Eyes alert, wide and seeking
The man there by my side
Breathing beautiful and sleeping
I’d watch the dawn surround him
Soft light upon his face
And in that quiet moment
I knew love’s tender place
Verse 3
But dreams can leave so quickly
Or slowly drift away
What once felt strong and endless
Can fade from day to day
And all that’s left is memory
A warmth that lingers deep
Of someone once beside me
Now living where tears sleep
Bridge
I touch the empty silence
Where once your heartbeat lay
And hear the ghost of laughter
That time has worn away
But love, once truly given
Does not completely part
It leaves a quiet footprint
Forever on the heart
Final Chorus / Outro
I used to know what love was
I held it in my hands
Though life may steal the moment
Love somehow always stands
I close my eyes and see you
As morning softly grew
The man there by my side
Breathing beautiful and sleeping
Michael Forty