Saoshika no fusu ya kusamura miezu tomo koro ga kanato yo yukaku shi eshimo

さを鹿の伏すや草むら見えずとも
子ろが金門よ行かくしえしも

Roma-ji: Saoshika no fusu ya kusamura miezu tomo koro ga kanato yo yukaku shi eshimo
English Translation: Where the stag lies down,
hidden in the grassy clump—
though I see her not,
past the gateway of my girl
it is sweet to walk along.
Meaning: Like the stag lying hidden in the thick grass, I cannot see her—yet just to pass by my girl's gate is a joy.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3530

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Though his beloved cannot be seen, like a stag hidden in the thick grass, it is a joy just to pass by her gate, the singer says. The small happiness of a love satisfied merely by passing near is expressed.
It is one of the love exchanges and, after the hare of 3529, sings of a deer. "Eshimo" in the last line is the same word as in "aro koso eshimo" in 3509.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "saoshika no": A stag, with "sa" a prefix.
Second line, "fusu ya kusamura": The thick grass where the stag lies; since it hides the stag from view, it forms a preface leading to the third line.
Third line, "miezu tomo": "Even though I cannot see," with "tomo" a concessive supposition.
Fourth line, "koro ga kanato yo": "Kanato" is a gate, the entrance of a house, and "yo" marks passage.
Final line, "yukaku shi eshimo": "Yukaku" means going, and "eshi" is an eastern form of "yoshi": how glad it makes me.
Source: Manyoshu
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