Salute, Bhagath! Poem by Vadakkumpurath Ramesan

Bhagath!
You were born as fire
You looked like a red rose
That imbibe not the honey
But the vaulting ambitions
To free Mother India
Incarcerated and chained
By the pole bearers of union Jack!

Bhagath!
You never yell to life
You never dreamed of a bride
Beside with veiled face
And hands adorned with bangles.
Yet you dreamed the liberation
The struggle and sacrifice
And you choose death to hug
And death was your bride!

Bhagath!
That five rivulets of Punjab
Wept with sweeping sorrow
As you with comrades
Sukh Dev and Raj Guru
Were led to the gallows
Where the hangman readied
The three Jute rings with a knot
Hanging over the podium
Where you shouted:
'Inquilab Zindabad'
As the black death
Smiled and you embraced her!

Bhagath!
The banks of Sathlaj
Still weeps over decades
When you all were burnt
On an unknown bank-bed
Of Sathlaj's grimness in the dusk
With none beside the pyre
With Sathlaj alone to weep
As the Empire gave you
An unceremonious exit!

Bhagath!
You became a shining star
That shover heat and spirit
To the billion children
Of Mother India
And they chant your name
As a hymn at every dawn
And sing the song
Sung by you comrades
On the dawn of every March 23!