Late Have I Loved You

Late have I loved you, O beauty so ancient and so new. Late have I loved you! You were within me while I have gone outside to seek you. Unlovely myself, I rushed towards all those lovely things you had made. And always you were with me, and I was not with you.

All those beauties kept me far from you—although they would not have existed at all unless they had their being in you.

You called,
   you cried,
      you shattered my deafness.

You sparkled,
   you blazed,
      you drove away my blindness.

You shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath, and I pant for you. I tasted and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and now I burn with a longing for your peace.

—Augustine of Hippo