honoring the sunset of a life

Jasmine Ann Freeman Baker

when a person leaves us for the great beyond,

I hope for them to be remembered,

seen, honored, appreciated,

the Light of their life

still shining upon ours,

so that what we make with our own brief moments

can shine even brighter,

we can reach to synchronize

with how well they lived their life truly,

we can hope to do the same,

as we are inspired to follow their lead,

Jasmine Ann Freeman Baker

shone brightly with her life,

her joy in the moment readily morphing into laughs

that a grandchild described as contagious,

her joy, her light rippling out

to husband, to children, to grandchildren,

to her beloved horses and plants,

she loved the practical joke:

once carefully opening a bottle of wine,

drinking it, replacing the wine with water,

and repackaging it all as if the bottle still was full of fine wine,

what actually happened with the bottle

far less important than the joyous prank,

at the beach in Brighton

her ice cream on the cone was melting,

and she flicked bits of it at her grandchildren,

all of whom delighted in the whimsy,

Jasmine Ann was grounded,

in her parents’ world which saved us all

from the insanity of Nazi Germany

through the courage and perseverance of her father

and of her mother who held down the fort

while husband was away, both selfless in their service,

her father missing the first two years of Jasmine Ann’s life,

dance and photography a part of her, relationships vital,

place important to her:

the idyllic house and view, 

with the South Downs stretching before them into glory,

stretching toward gorgeous sunset after sunset 

for the whole of her married life,

the garden where tomato and cucumbers needed her tending,

even, just weeks before her death, the pansies planted,

year after year saving seeds for the next season

because it is frugal, and right,

she was literally and figuratively rooted in the South of England,

her daughter helping the next generations

know the practical and the forest,

cruises called to her, 

and she loved experiencing the world with her beloved husband,

her love of horses, grounded in the life of her past

and experienced exuberantly in the magnificent plumed black horses

her husband made sure were there 

to pull her hearse one last time

to where her life could rest,

and still resonate in the wonder 

that her daughters and grandchildren can still work 

to express with the fullness and joy of their own lives,

the cardinal points each have within them messages,

a Native American meditation speaks of facing the West, the sundown,

which calls us to live life as fully as we can

before our lives fade in to the night which calls us all,

our last moments, like the sunset, should be of glory,

Jasmine Anne’s sun has set,

and set with the glory of her life.

by Henry H. Walker

October 17, ‘20