Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made (Romans 1:21-23).

You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all (John 1:3, Colossians 1:17). You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you (Psalm 42:1). I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you (Psalm 63:1). You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.