Long absent, soon forgotten.

The proverb suggests that a prolonged absence can weaken a person's place in other people's thoughts. Familiarity depends, in part, on continued contact.

It can also express disappointment at how readily attention moves on. The saying presents forgetting as a risk of being away, not as a certainty about every relationship.

Use it when discussing a friendship, group, or shared activity in which someone has been away long enough that others rarely mention them. It may sound rueful or critical, depending on whether the speaker regrets the distance or faults those who forgot.