Yado karete ikuka mo aranu ni shika no naku aki no nobe to mo narinikeru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

宿かれて幾日もあらぬに鹿の鳴く
秋の野辺ともなりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Yado karete ikuka mo aranu ni shika no naku aki no nobe to mo narinikeru kana
English Translation: I left my house,
and though few days have passed since then,
where the deer now cry
it has turned to autumn fields,
my garden withered through
Meaning: Though only a few days have passed since I left my house, the garden has withered and become an autumn field where deer cry.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 270

Headnote: "Composed when, returning after spending some time away from the mountain village where I lived, I found the garden plants badly withered"
Composed when the poet returned after a short time away from her home in a mountain village and found the plants of the garden badly withered. Only a few days have passed since she left the house, yet the plantings have withered and the garden has become like an autumn field where deer cry. With "karu" meaning both to leave a house and for plants to wither, she conveys her astonishment at how far autumn's ruin has advanced in so brief an absence.
The author, "Koben," was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Yūshi, daughter of Emperor Go-Suzaku, and is also called Koben of Princess Yūshi's Household. She is said to have been the mother of Kii, who also served the Princess.
Like the preceding poem, 269, it ends with "nobe to mo narinikeru kana." Where that poem told of a house long unlived in, this one tells of an absence of only a few days, catching the same ruin on two different scales, long years and a handful of days.

First line, "yado karete": "karu" is a pivot word meaning both to "leave" a house and for plants to "wither."
Second line, "ikuka mo aranu ni": "though not many days have passed," a line of eight syllables instead of seven. It sets a short absence against the long one in the preceding poem, 269.
Third line, "shika no naku": modifies "aki no nobe" in the fourth line, adding the scene of a ruined garden seen as autumn fields.
Fourth line, "aki no nobe to mo": "into autumn fields," answering "niwa wa nobe to mo" in the preceding poem, 269.
Fifth line, "narinikeru kana": the same last line as the preceding poem, 269, expressing surprise and feeling: "it has become."
Author: Koben
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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