It was my boat-loving, ocean-going father who first told me about John Masefield's poem. My father is not much into poetry but I can see why he likes this one. The language is simple, yet so evocative of life at sea, and the rhythm reminds me of hours spent watching the shouldering of waves and feeling the lift, surge and fall of the boat underneath me. It is thanks to my father's passion for sailing that I now love the ocean, feel at home when I'm near it, and long to protec