Late have I loved You
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 I hunger and thirst;
You touched me,
And I burned for your peace.
St. Augustine of Hippo.