St Augustine, you were with me but I was not with you

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

Lo, you were within,

but l 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.

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.