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Last week I attended a celebration of life on Zoom. It was a wonderful service for a wonderful man and, notwithstanding meeting remotely, the warmth and love for him shone through.
During one part of the service, because Hadley loved sailing, there was a reading of John Masefield’s marvelous poem, “Sea Fever.” I loved it, particularly because I could recite the words along with the celebrant. Why? Because in the eighth grade, our English teacher had us memorize the poem. I remember it as being a burden at the time. Over the years, I had forgotten most of “Sea Fever” save for the first stanza. I questioned our teacher (who I loved, by the way) why we had to memorize a poem.