Late have I loved you

O Beauty ever ancient, ever new,
late have I loved you!
You were within me, but I was outside,
and it was there that I searched for you.

In my unloveliness
I plunged into the lovely things which you created.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
Created things kept me from you;
yet if they had not been in you
they would have not been at all.

You called,
you shouted,
and you broke through my deafness.
You flashed,
you shone,
and you dispelled my blindness.
You breathed your fragrance on me;
I drew in breath
and now I pant for you.
I have tasted you,
now I hunger and thirst for more.
You touched me,
and I burned for your peace.

sero te amavi,
pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova,
sero te amavi!
et ecce intus eras et ego foris,
et ibi te quaerebam,
et in ista formosa quae fecisti
deformis inruebam.
mecum eras, et tecum non eram.
ea me tenebant longe a te,
quae si in te non essent,
non essent.

vocasti
et clamasti
et rupisti surditatem meam;
coruscasti,
splenduisti
et fugasti caecitatem meam;
fragrasti,
et duxi spiritum et anhelo tibi;
gustavi
et esurio et sitio;
tetigisti me,
et exarsi in pacem tuam.

St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 10, Chapter XXVII