Yama fukami hogushi no matsu wa tsukinuredo shika ni omoi o nao kakuru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山深み火串の松は尽きぬれど
鹿におもひをなほかくるかな

Roma-ji: Yama fukami hogushi no matsu wa tsukinuredo shika ni omoi o nao kakuru kana
English Translation: The mountains being deep,
the pine torches on the poles
have all burned out,
yet still upon the deer I cast
the fire of my desire
Meaning: The mountains are so deep that the pine torches on the hunters' poles have burned out, yet still I cast the fire of my longing on the deer.
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 199

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem on torch-hunting"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed on the topic of "torch-hunting." Because the mountains are deep, the hunt drags on and the pine torches on the poles have burned out, yet the hunter, unable to give up the deer, keeps casting the fire of his longing upon it. Pivoting on "omoi," with its "hi," fire, the poem sets the hunter's undying fire of longing against the torches that have died out.
The author is unknown, and the poem is included as anonymous.

First line, "yama fukami": the suffix "mi" gives a cause: "because the mountains are deep."
Second line, "hogushi no matsu wa": "the pine torches of the hunt." Like 197 and 198 of this book, it speaks of torches on poles.
Third line, "tsukinuredo": "nure" is the realized form of the perfective "nu" and "do" concessive: "though they have burned out," picking up "moetsukite" in the preceding poem, 198.
Fourth line, "shika ni omoi o": "omoi" is a pivot word for "longing" for the deer and "hi," fire.
Fifth line, "nao kakuru kana": "kakuru" layers setting fire and directing one's longing, and "kana" is exclamatory. Against the spent torches stands a fire of longing that does not die.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Tomoshi suru hogushi no matsu mo moetsukite kaeru ni mayou shimotsuyami kana
Next Poem: Tomoshi suru hogushi o matsu to omoeba ya aimiteshika no mi o ba kauran