Yomosugara tsuma koikanete naku shika no namida ya nobe no tsuyu to naruran

夜もすがら妻恋ひかねて鳴く鹿の
涙や野辺の露となるらん

Roma-ji: Yomosugara tsuma koikanete naku shika no namida ya nobe no tsuyu to naruran
English Translation: All the whole night through,
longing for his mate, the deer
cries and cannot bear it:
can his tears be turning now
to the dew upon the moor?
Meaning: All night long the deer cries, unable to bear his longing for his mate; can it be his tears that have become the dew on the moor?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 431

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Deer"
This is the third poem in the series on the deer. The deer cries all night long, unable to bear his longing for his mate; can his tears have become the dew on the grasses of the moor? Hearing in the deer's call a longing for its mate, the poet sees the dew of the moor as the deer's tears.
The figure of dew as tears appears also in 294, where the dew on the sleeves proves to be tears, and here the tears are the deer's. The figure of human tears as dew is transferred to the deer.

First line, “yomosugara”: all night long.
Second line, “tsuma koikanete”: kanu means unable to, unable to bear his longing for his mate.
Third line, “naku shika no”: of the deer that cries.
Fourth line, “namida ya nobe no”: ya is a question particle answering ran in the last line, the deer's tears, of the moor.
Fifth line, “tsuyu to naruran”: ran is present conjecture in the attributive form required by ya, can they be becoming dew.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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