Love's Trail: A Tear of Sadness, a Tear of Joy, but Always, There Is Adonai A Collection of Poems

By J. Ainsley Blaine

The title of this volume of poetry tries to capture the journey along which love transports us as we traverse the highway of life. The mile markers are recorded with joy unspeakable, un-utterable; mountains of euphoric and electrifying feelings; little rest areas of sadness; portions of the way overcast with clouds filled with angst and rejection; landscapes paved with wonder; occasional pot holes of anger and disappointment. But, always, even when our eyes are clouded with tears of sadness or cheeks glistening with joy so expansive, He is there. This work is an attempt to present a small portrait of the amazing reality and love of and appreciation for Adonai. At every beat of my heart , He is my inspiration. At every thought, He waits to see our choices.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885402538

Book preview

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Love's Trail

A Tear of Sadness, a Tear of Joy, but Always, There Is Adonai A Collection of Poems

J. Ainsley Blaine

ISBN 979-8-88540-252-1 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88540-253-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by J. Ainsley Blaine

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

Part 1

1

Love Bids Sin's Frost Adieu

2

Forsooth, I Cannot Quiet My Tongue3

3

The Banner of Love Unfurled4

4

The Ashen Reality

5

Imprints5

6

A Soul Permeated by Emptiness7

7

Blue Monday

8

A Soul Covered by Night8

9

A Numbed Heart Lies Beatless

10

Ambushed

11

Love's Sabbatical11

12

An Appreciation for What It Was

13

Resurrection

14

Paradisiacal Triumph

15

Denouement—Love's Affirmation

16

Epilogue

17

Voices Awakened13

18

The Awakening Dawn14

19

And Then I Remember16

20

The Cliffs of Hate

21

No Hope in Hope Gardens21

22

The Nectar of Love's Vineyard

23

The Coming of Descartes

24

Love's Passion Sits in Ashes

25

I, Your Sanctuary

26

Got Up This Morning, and I Was Six Decades Plus

27

The Old Sailor and Life's Ocean

28

Remembering Desmond Dekker25

29

Eyam Luchenbach

30

And like David

31

My Sun

32

If I Had to Choose

33

A Stroke Uninvited

34

Realization

35

John's Miracle in Charlotte33

36

Awake, My Love

37

But Love Doth Rise

38

Friend or Fiend43

39

Papa,45 aka Pops

40

Mek mi tell uhnu sumting50

41

Mama Helen53

42

The Fruity Explosion

43

The Chosen One

44

The Avenue They Called Retreat65

45

Klippity Klop—the Breadman Cometh71

46

The Day Baby Cassandra Came Home

47

An Army of Circumstances

48

The Laurel of Quiet Fragrance

49

The Birth of Ainsley, My Son

50

To John Ainsley Blaine Jr. as He Enters Matrimony

51

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.78 Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

52

Homecoming

53

Family Reunion

54

Waters of Marah

55

Highway of Holiness

56

Agnus Dei

57

New Land

58

The Change

59

Did You Know?

60

The Fall

61

Mr. Bombastic93

62

Dunn's River Falls95

63

Lies97 with Conviction

64

Just Past

65

Truth, Untruth

66

The Modern-Day Worship

67

The Jaunt

68

Challenge104

69

For Cassandra on Her Birthday, July 3

Part 2

70

Lack of Love in the Heart

71

Fellowship

72

Shadow

73

Spiritual Checkup

74

Liquid Testimony

75

Yarusalem

76

Way Past the Empty Tomb

77

Reminiscences107

78

Where Can I Go and Adonai Is Not?

79

Avinu Malkeinu—Father of All

80

An Icy Depth111

81

A Soul Translated112

82

A Transformed Dwelling

83

Pillow113

84

Chesed114 חֶסֶד

85

Cheshbon Hanefesh, a Personal Accounting or Living to Do the Will of Adonai

86

As We Begin to Pray

87

I was glad when they said unto me, To the House of Adonai, let's go.125

88

Adonai

89

Going Home Ain't Easy128

90

To My Beloved at Family Reunion129

91

I Am Going Home

92

Love Reborn

93

Reunited and It feels So Good131

94

Tish'a B'Av,133 the Ninth of Ave134

95

Is There Balm from Gilead?

96

Is There Balm for Me from Gilead?

97

At the Sea145

98

Spiritually Dead and Not Knowing It

99

Thoughts from the Pew

100

The Other Day Just Past

101

The Portrait of a Wall

102

The Bread of Life, not Chametz

103

What If He Had Possessed a Gun and Not a Sword?

104

Be Persuaded167

105

Full Custody

106

Dross

107

Yahusha at a Legal Conference

108

The Preacher Says, A Few More Seconds and I Am Done

109

The Shunammite170

110

The Other Evening

111

The Storm

112

Victory

113

Take the Word of G-d

114

Part-Time Faith

115

Sun Setting, Sun Rising

116

A Life No More

117

Cogito Ergo Sum183

118

Old Man's Garb

119

Waiting for the Call192

And Now I Understand

120

A Message to Jackie196

121

The Cleanse

122

Awakening Slowly on the Seashore of Life

123

Packing for Today's Trip

124

Speechless Jubilation

125

Temptation Even on the Highway of Holiness

126

In the Zones

Part 3

127

A Plunge into the Endless Verdure

128

Beaded Drops of Liquid Pearls

129

The Baled Hay

130

The Exit Door

131

Praying Praising

132

Two Leafy Teardrops

133

Leaf in the Sun

134

A Thought on Mother's Day

135

The Temple

136

Anagapesis223

137

Your Moment

138

Servanthood

139

Cascading Wrath

140

The Morning Sky

141

The Language of the Heart

142

We Are Not Called to a Battleless Experience

143

Here's to a Great Weekend for You

144

Rockford Road Beach

145

Darnel259

146

Ancient Anger

147

The Departure

Closing Thoughts to Ponder

A Thoughtful Reminder

A Little Background of the Book

Appreciation

About the Author

This little book of poetry is dedicated to my wife, Carolyn Francine Lawrence Blaine. The poem The Banner of Love Unfurled was the very first I penned. It was started shortly after our courtship began in 1970 while we were in graduate school in Pennsylvania.

Blessed are you, El Elyon¹—God Most High—who sustains the living with kindness, revives the dead with endless abundant supernal mercy, rescues the lost, resuscitates and heals the sick, and maintains our faith. In the name of Yahusha HaMashiach. Amen!

אני מאמין (Ani Ma'amim) I believe

I believe on Adonai, the Most High—His sovereignty

I believe His promises with all certainty

I believe I am released from captivity

I believe that in Him I dwell in security

I believe that with Him I dwell in unity

I believe that I dwell within His majesty

For all eternity

I believe

מאמין

בֵּרֵךְ

(Baruch Hashem)

שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם‎

Shalom Aleichem

Peace be upon you.

Acknowledgment

This little volume, which was over fifty years in the making, is an acknowledgment of the wonders of Adonai, the Most High God (El Elyon²), who gives us the ability to become, to overcome, to be. While an eight-year-old student at Half Way Tree Elementary School in Kingston, Jamaica, in the early to mid-1950s, I was enthralled by one of the students who could stand in front of the class and recite a very long poem with emotion and expression. Although I cannot remember the student's name or the writer of the poem, I can still hear her as she projected her voice. Thus began my interest in poetry.

During one of our weekly studies, Joshua Nuñez—my friend and my teacher in learning Hebrew—remarked,

God does not ask us for what we don't have! He asks us for everything that we do have. Remember the feeding of the five thousand [referring to the apostolic writings of John—chapter 6, verse 9]? Yahusha said to them, "Bring Me what you have." And they brought Him what they had: five barley cakes (loaves) and two fish—all they had. And He fed five thousand.

And then I added, Bring Him all that you have and not just 10 percent! You might end up feeding five thousand men.

I therefore give to Him all the praise and all my thanksgiving for giving me this opportunity and for life and all its experiences in the name of His Son—my Savior—Yahusha haMashiach. Blessed are You, Adonai, our God, King of the universe.

Part 1

1

Love Bids Sin's Frost Adieu

But love, heaven's charcoal—a perpetual flame aglow

E'en when it's 1,000 below;

Donning tzitzit and tallit katan enters the soul's igloo

And bids frosty sin adieu.

2

Forsooth, I Cannot Quiet My Tongue

³

Achtung! Achtung!

Forsooth, I cannot quiet my tongue!

The air of thanksgiving inflating my lung,

In my heart melodies of adoration to be sung,

Psalmic prayers emanating, scaling higher on Yacob's every rung,

As on my mind, on Yahusha, my attention—clinging—is steadfastly hung.

Attenzione! Attenzione!

The enemy scattered, fled away in utter disarray,

My thoughts, my lips ablaze with praise—meteors on the rise,

For to Adonai, with canticles, I rhapsodize;

And moment by moment, the Ruach Hakodesh my soul doth energize.

I—in reverent adoration—Him only I recognize.

Baruch attah Adonai!

ברוך אתה אדוני

3

The Banner of Love Unfurled

⁴

Forever never to yield

The banners of my heart unfurled, unconcealed.

Love's sabers purposely unleashed,

Pulled confidently from leathery sheaths,

And raised glistening in the sun untarnished,

Honed edges slicing through the fog of icy breaths.

I sit atop my charging steed thundering forth to conquer.

Come against me, ye dragons of isolation!

Stand and fight, ye beasts of perdition!

Stay your ground, ye fleeing warriors of desolation!

Look here, you jackals of loneliness!

And drink ye all the swift destruction,

From this my saber—your fountain of death!

And ye mountains ever so high:

Clap your hands as to your pinnacles I fly!

And there in love's lanai,

With victory's laurels, let me lie.

Forever never to yield

The banners of my heart unconcealed.

I am in love! Love conquers all.

4

The Ashen Reality

The twisted wreckage of a life lay bloodless by the road.

I wonder whose life it is—so still, so sad—in final abode.

Its hull dashed on ocean's foamy reef

Rigor mortis birthed in rejection and dejection, disappointment and disbelief.

Bitterness and amazement—cold reality!

I wonder why the passersby are staring at me.

5

Imprints

⁵

Ecce ibi es vos⁶

There you are an image so clear

An imprint indelibly etched on my heart

Erasing the vestiges of ennui

Ingrained so deeply in the folds of my memory;

An unblemished work of art

Taking my breath away.

You delight my senses

Piercing to the very core of me—

My intellect, my emotions.

Unfolding my world

And capturing the essence of my soul.

6

A Soul Permeated by Emptiness

⁷

There is an emptiness that permeates my soul

Draining my very being of its will to joy

Today, you see, I met a sad truth

I am not what I hoped to be

There is a void in my soul

No joy rings out with sounds of glee

Mirth and contentment have waved goodbye

The one I love, alas, has no love for me

Stopped she did for a brief moment

Midst the green trees of my youth.

The brief final words of her adieu

Draining love's petals of its morning dew

There is an