Sea-Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like
a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
I have always liked this one, and can sympathise with the sentiments expressed therein.
Several years later I notice that some versions of this on the interweb have "I must go down..." as the first line of each verse, however others omit the word "go" - "I must down to the seas again..."
Which is right? I don't know.
Which is more poetic? I don't know - not being a poet!
The first line of each verse flows rather better without the hard G sound.
Ron
My mother used to recite the first couple pf lines of this to me. She was a non-poetic woman with her feet firmly rooted on stony ground, but something about this spoke to her. And one can see why.
Wallace Greenslade of The Goons often started to recite this too, but he was usually interrupted by the sound of a tremendous splash followed by Little Jim who said "He's fallen in the water."
I expect it was written without the 'go' but included later because it feels right to modern speakers. I've a feeling I've seen similar phrasing (without the go) before, but I can't recall where now.
@ "He's fallen in the water"
well here we are a couple of years later and take a look at the comment from the chap in Fiji...
linkie
It appears that John Maesfield himself read it with "go" in the stanza and I guess he knew what he meant!
Ron
Well, there you err go. 
If I say it out loud I feel the urge to add the 'go' even though the sense is clear anyway.