Yū sareba ogura no yama ni naku shika wa koyoi wa nakazu inenikerashi mo

夕されば小倉の山に鳴く鹿は
今夜は鳴かず寐ねにけらしも

Roma-ji: Yū sareba ogura no yama ni naku shika wa koyoi wa nakazu inenikerashi mo
English Translation: When evening comes on,
on the mountain of Ogura
the deer that cries out
has not cried at all tonight:
it seems to have gone to sleep
Meaning: The deer that always cries on Mount Ogura when evening comes does not cry tonight; it seems to have gone to sleep.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1511

Headnote: "A poem composed by the Okamoto Emperor"
Wondering why the deer that always cried on Mount Ogura at evening is silent tonight, the poet imagines it has met its mate and gone to sleep. The deer's cry was thought to be a call to its mate, and in the silence he senses the deer lying close beside her. Placed at the head of the autumn miscellaneous poems, it is known as one of the finest autumn poems of the Man'yōshū.
"The Okamoto Emperor" in the headnote refers to a sovereign who ruled from the Okamoto Palace in Asuka, said to be either Emperor Jomei or Empress Saimei; there is no settled view as to which is meant.
At the head of Book Nine, 1664 records as a poem by Emperor Yūryaku, "When evening comes, the deer that lies on Mount Ogura has not cried tonight; it seems to have gone to sleep," so the same poem has come down with slight differences.

The first line means "whenever evening comes"; "saru" means for a time to arrive.
The second line names Mount Ogura, thought to lie near present-day Sakurai in Nara.
The third line names the deer that cried every evening. Autumn deer were thought to cry calling their mates, and they are sung again and again in the autumn poems of this book.
The fourth line means "tonight alone it does not cry," and the poem pauses here.
The final line adds the exclamatory "mo" to the past inferential "kerashi," surmising that it has gone to sleep. One feels a gentle gaze that imagines the peace of a deer that has found its mate.
Author: The Okamoto Emperor
Source: Manyoshu
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