For this week’s Translation Tuesday, acclaimed Jordanian writer Hisham Bustani conveys longing and estrangement with a death-defying metaphor in “Balancing Act.” Two individuals are divided by impossible circumstances. Will one risk walking a tightrope to reach the other? The mature and unexpected conclusion defies the simplicity of most parables, and one can even read this poetic story as a meditation on choice itself. Part of the power of Hisham Bustani’s allegory is its applicability to various real-life scenarios: the risks of choosing to cross a divide, be it personal, political, or geographical, always carries the weight of lost (but also new) possibilities.

A rope stretched taut between two tall buildings.

He stands on one rooftop and she on the second, watching each other.

The distance between them isn’t far. Had they been on the ground, they might cross it in twenty paces. But there, on those rooftops with the rope between them, the distance has grown.

The two buildings have no stairs. The two buildings have no elevators. The two buildings have no fire escapes. No one enters the buildings and no one leaves, and they are on those rooftops. There is no other path, and they watch each other from the ends of the tightrope. READ MORE…