The Scream of a Floating Heart
Murzban Shroff
I am burning up with the heat
And I am folding up with the shame
This journey that I undertake
will take me home again
It will take me to my village
to the arms of my waiting wife
It will take me to my parents
who will rejoice to see me alive
It will take me to my fields
and to the open skies
It will take me from this city
this city of a million lies
I am going back with no savings
my luggage small and spare
I will never again trust them
when they say they really care
They gave me no shelter
And they gave me no food
The moment the virus struck
I was no good
I who built the city
And I who raised its towers
I who gave wings
To all its money power
I who risked my life
So the rich could live well
But when the trouble started
I could just as well go to hell
This the city showed me
And this I learned so well
Now if they want me
I will point the way to hell.
Murzban Shroff
Murzban F. Shroff is a Mumbai-based writer. He has published four books: Breathless in Bombay (stories), Waiting for Jonathan Koshy (novel), Fasttrack Fiction (digital shorts) and recently Third Eye Rising (an India collection of stories). Shroff’s fiction has appeared in over 65 literary journals. A Commonwealth Prize-shortlisted author, he has received 6 Pushcart Prize nominations and is the recipient of the John Gilgun Fiction Award. He was also a finalist for the Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize in New York. Shroff’s poems have appeared in several premier journals: in the U.S., UK, and Canada. He is currently shopping a poetry collection.