by Saint Augustine (354 - 430)
Translation © by Kenneth Leech
sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua
Language: Latin
sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova, sero te amavi! et ecce intus eras et ego foris, et ibi te quaerebam, et in ista formosa quae fecisti deformis inruebam. mecum eras, et tecum non eram. ea me tenebant longe a te, quae si in te non essent, non essent. vocasti et clamasti et rupisti surditatem meam; coruscasti, splenduisti et fugasti caecitatem meam; fragrasti, et duxi spiritum et anhelo tibi; gustavi et esurio et sitio; tetigisti me, et exarsi in pacem tuam.
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Text Authorship:
- by Saint Augustine (354 - 430), appears in Confessiones, no. 10.27 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Penny Rodriguez.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in English, a translation by Kenneth Leech , copyright © ; composed by Rene Orth.
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-09-07
Line count: 12
Word count: 83
You Shattered My Deafness
Language: English after the Latin
How late I came to love you [ ... ]
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Text Authorship:
- by Kenneth Leech , copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Saint Augustine (354 - 430), appears in Confessiones, no. 10.27
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Rene Orth (b. 1985), "You Shattered My Deafness", 2013 [ baritone and string quartet ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Penny Rodriguez.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
This text was added to the website: 2025-10-20
Line count: 12
Word count: 132