La Lune. (Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

Rita Dove's title is 'Trans- '. I changed it to a more neutral word-'La Lune= 'The Moon'. Dove uses the moon as a symbol for male/female sexuality. The dark side of the moon is a man: the light side symbolises a woman.
The poem is also about male/female identity and transexuality. Although a doctor told me the other day that all men have some female hormones too. And vice-versa for women. Rita Dove sums it up in the last two lines:
'Oh how the operatic impulse wavers!
Dig deep, my darling, into the blank pool'.
Dove's original English poem is on Poem Hunter-best to read both together.

-Translated 17 March,2017.