Saoshika no tsuma yobu koe mo ikanare ya yūbe wa wakite kanashikaruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

さを鹿の妻呼ぶ声もいかなれや
夕べはわきて悲しかるらん

Roma-ji: Saoshika no tsuma yobu koe mo ikanare ya yūbe wa wakite kanashikaruran
English Translation: The stag's voice too,
calling out to its mate,
why should it be
that at evening especially
it sounds so full of sorrow?
Meaning: Why is it that even the stag's call to its mate sounds so especially sad at evening?
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 317

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on the deer"
Composed as a poem on the deer. Even the stag's voice calling for its mate, the poet says, sounds especially sad at evening, and he asks why. Though the deer's voice itself should not change, he expresses, in the form of a question, how the hour of dusk deepens sorrow.
The author, "Sakyō no Daibu Nagonori," is Fujiwara no Nagonori, son of Fujiwara no Michinori, known as Shinzei, who served as Master of the Eastern Capital Office among other posts.
This is the first of a run of nine poems, 317 through 325, composed as "poems on the deer."

First line, "saoshika no": "saoshika" means a stag.
Second line, "tsuma yobu koe mo": "even the voice calling its mate," the same words as "tsuma yobu shika no" in 307 of this book.
Third line, "ikanare ya": "why should it be?", asking the reason. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "yūbe wa wakite": "wakite" means "especially." As in 306 and 321 of this book, the deer's voice is bound to evening.
Fifth line, "kanashikaruran": "ran" is the present conjecture "ramu," "it must sound sad," guessing at the cause.
Author: Fujiwara no Nagonori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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