Sometimes . . .

(Found here)

Sometimes a man gets up from the supper table
and walks outside and walks and walks and walks,—
because somewhere in the east there’s a church.

His children bless him and say: “He’s gone to be with the saints.”

And another man remains in his house till he dies—
remains there amid table and drinking glass,—
so that his children must walk out into the world
to seek the church which he forgot.

~Rainer Maria Rilke (from Book of Hours: Love Poems to God)