Unknown

I'd see him everyday
and although we never spoke,
in my self-centered obsession
I felt that he didn't like me
because he wouldn't smile or even
make eye contact with me

but others spoke highly of him
and the good he did in this world
taking a poor sister into his care
helping her return to her home
half a world away

and day after day
we sat only a few pews apart
our voices joined in prayer
to the only One who will ever
really know us

now he's gone, his pew is empty
his soul is on its final journey
to the only One who really
does knows him

what's left behind is a sparse
obituary
and a prayer in my heart
for the man who was, to me,
unknown

her funeral was small,
only a few relatives in attendance
but their love for her was
genuine, and the tears
they cried were real

although she had spent
her entire adulthood
in a house near the church
poor health required a move
to the nursing home
in recent years

I was shocked
when the officiating priest
had to ask for her name
during his funeral homily
and I thought it sad
to be unknown

and I longed to make a difference
leave a mark upon the earth
to reveal my face and what
is deep within my heart
before it's too late
and I pass this way unknown

I busy myself
and I make connections
and I strive and I push
because all I want is to
be known

yet in the end, will it really matter?
when He calls me to His heart
He will know who I am
down to the smallest detail;
and after I'm gone
there will still be an empty pew
left behind
and some tears shed by those
who love me

but the world at large
will never know me
will not remember me
and it does not matter at all
that I am unknown

spending precious time with Him
in the silence of my heart,
with head bowed down
and knees to earth,
we share all we need to know
of the other

so if these fleeting moments
here on earth
leave me by myself, alone
familiarity will still be mine
in His heart, I will always
be known