Beauty old and new

I loved you too late, Beauty so old and so new. I loved you too late! You were inside me, and I was outside, and that’s where I looked for you. Ugly as I was, I threw myself at the beautiful things you had made. You were with me, but I wasn’t with you. Those things kept me far from you, though they wouldn’t exist at all if they weren’t in you. You called and shouted, and broke through my deafness. You flashed and shone, and drove away my blindness. You breathed your fragrance, and I drew breath, and now I long for you. I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burn for your peace. Amen.