thou wast within

Conversion of St.Augustine

Fra Angelico

Belatedly I loved thee,

O Beauty so ancient and so new

belatedly I loved thee.

For see, thou wast within

and I was without,

and I sought thee out there.

Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly

among the lovely things thou hast made.

Thou wast with me, but I was not with thee.

These things kept me far from thee;

even though they were not at all

unless they were in thee.

The Confessions of St. Augustine