And you were inside me and I was outside, and so on the outside I was looking for you; and, deformed as it was, I would throw myself on these beautiful things that you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. They kept me away from you those things that, if they were not in you, would not exist. You called me and cried out, and you broke my deafness; you shone and shone, and healed my blindness; you exhaled your perfume, and I inhaled it, and now I long for you; I liked you, and now I feel hungry and thirsty for you; you touched me, and I longed for the peace that comes from you.

From the book of the Confessions of Saint Augustine, Bishop Book 7, 10. 18, 27