In depicting the moon at midnight as the lighting for a rehearsal of death, a striking take on the connection between death and sleep, Wang Xiaoni’s “White Moon” connects the time of night most distant from the transitions between light and dark to the most dramatic transition which human beings experience. The moon, in its purity transforms the speaker to a skeleton; the sight overwhelms her mind so that memories of being human cannot change this impression.

The final line, however, focuses on her feet, an image of grounding. Perhaps the speaker can return to her human body (and to sleep) even before the long hours pass and the transition to full sunlight occurs.