Late have I loved you (St Augustine)
Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new,
late have I loved you!
And see, you were within, and I was outside,
and there I looked for you;
and, misshapen as I was,
I rushed headlong into the lovely things that you had made.
You were with me, and I was not with you.
Those things kept me far from you
which, if they were not in you, would not be at all.
You called, you cried out, and you broke through my deafness;
you flashed, you shone, and you put my blindness to flight;
you breathed your fragrance, and I drew breath, and now I long for you;
I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.
Text: our own text or translation, written for Verso.
About this prayer
From the Confessions of St Augustine of Hippo (Book X, chapter 27), written around 397–400, when he looked back on the years he spent searching for God everywhere but within. It is one of the best-loved passages in Christian writing. People pray it slowly in quiet prayer and on retreat, and on his feast day, 28 August. Our English and Spanish follow the Latin.