Firt Installment Poem by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Heed me well, O my Mother, heed me well,
Negligible perhaps be this service of mine,
But heed well this puny Son!
Nurtured at your breast,
Blessed by your milk we were!
Vast a debt we owe to you.
My body as sacrifice in the blazing fire I offer,
T'is but a first installment of this debt!
Over and over in every lifetime, give this body I will,
Into the holy pyre of your liberation.
With Shri Krishna as the valiant charioteer,
With Shri Ram as the Commander,
Your army of thirty crores
Will not halt if I be no more!
Onward march they will to vanquish the Fiend-
And atop the Himalayas, with their own hands,
The Saffron flag of Freedom, hoist they will!

[Translated by Anurupa Cinar]