From Book X of the Confessions. Perhaps the most quoted line in Western devotional writing — the cry of a soul that has long been chasing what it already possessed.
Universal · Patristic (1st–7th c.)
Late Have I Loved Thee
Late have I loved thee,
O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!
Late have I loved thee.
Behold, thou wert within me,
and I was outside;
and there I sought for thee,
and in my deformity I rushed headlong
upon the well-formed things that thou hast made.
Thou wert with me,
and I was not with thee.
Those outer beauties held me far from thee,
yet if they had not been in thee,
they would not have been at all.
Thou didst call,
and cry out loud,
and shatter my deafness.
Thou didst gleam and shine,
and chase away my blindness.
Thou didst breathe perfume,
and I drew in my breath,
and now I pant for thee.
I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst.
Thou didst touch me,
and I burned for thy peace.