Late have I loved you,
Beauty so ancient and so new,
Late have I loved you!

Lo, you were within,
But I outside, seeking there for you,

And upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.

They held me back far from you,
Those things which would have no being,
Were they not in you.

You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
You flared, blazed, banished my blindness;

You lavished your fragrance,
I gasped; and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;

You touched me,
And I burned for your peace.

St. Augustine