Jayant Sharma
I was born in fire,
minted with a king’s face,
my surface gleaming,
my value unquestioned.
I was crisp,
a promise in metal,
a symbol of power.
Then I fell into the world—
the butcher’s meat stuck to me,
the baker’s butter smudged my shine.
I was dropped on streets,
kicked under stalls,
my edges worn,
my face turning grey.
People frowned,
pocketed me reluctantly,
as if my tarnish diminished their worth.
A child found me,
grubby hands clutching hope,
and traded me for a sweet.
I passed through wallets,
cash registers,
beggar’s bowls,
each hand leaving a mark,
each transaction a story.
Years turned to decades,
I lay buried in mud,
forgotten,
blackened by time.
Wars raged,
empires fell,
and I waited,
silent,
patient.
Now from a dusty antique in a pawn shop,
I sit in a museum,
behind glass,
a relic of another age.
People pay hundreds like me
just to see my tarnished face.
They marvel at my journey,
my endurance,
my transformation from currency to artifact.
Oh, the irony—
I was once too dirty for pockets,
now too precious to touch.
Time, the great equaliser,
turned my grime into grandeur,
my neglect into legacy.
I am still worth something,
not for what I buy,
but for the stories I carry,
the hands I’ve touched,
the centuries I’ve seen.
(Jayant Sharma is a writer, editor, and literary translator specialising in Nepali-English translations. He has translated over a dozen notable works, including Beyond Borders, Whispers in the Mountain, Rose’s Odyssey, Unsung Heroes, In the Battle of Kirtipur, Guerrilla Girl, Gurkha War Poems, and Children Stories from Nepal, among others. As the editor of SATHI, a Kathmandu-based English literary magazine, he has actively promoted Nepali literature through translations. He is also the founder of translateNepal, an initiative aimed at bringing Nepali literature to a global audience. Jayant runs the blog Anuvaad, dedicated to translating Nepali literary works into English, and is currently working on several important translation volumes. He is also the author of To Whom It May Concern, a poetry collection published in Australia. He can be accessed through [email protected] )
