Hito koba to omoite yuki o miru hodo ni shika ato tsukuru koto mo arikeri

人来ばと思ひて雪を見るほどに
しか跡付くることもありけり

Roma-ji: Hito koba to omoite yuki o miru hodo ni shika ato tsukuru koto mo arikeri
English Translation: 'If someone should come…'
so I thought, gazing at the snow,
when, while I watched,
a deer, just so, left its tracks;
such things too may come to pass.
Meaning: While I gazed at the snow, thinking 'if someone should come', a deer came and left its tracks, just as I feared; so such things too can happen.
Commentary: Winter Poems 533

Headnote: "Snow had buried my hut, and it was beyond words delightful; as I gazed, recalling the poem with the words 'if they should come now', I saw a deer pass, parting the snow"
The headnote tells us that snow had buried the hut and it was beyond words delightful, and that as the poet gazed at it, recalling a poem with the words if they should come now, he saw a deer pass through, parting the snow. Worrying that the snow would be trodden if someone came to call, he watches it, and it is not a person but a deer that leaves its tracks. The poem catches the surprise of a deer leaving prints where he had grudged a person's footprints, and his amusement at it.
The words if they should come now in the headnote refer to Izumi Shikibu's poem in the Shika Wakashū, which wonders what to do if the awaited one comes, since it would be a pity to have the garden snow trodden. Like the preceding poem, it carries on the feeling of grudging footprints in the garden snow.

First line, “hito koba to”: koba is if someone should come, with ba marking a hypothetical condition.
Second line, “omoite yuki o”: thinking so, and looking at the snow, worried that footprints would be left.
Third line, “miru hodo ni”: hodo ni means while.
Fourth line, “shika ato tsukuru”: shika is a pivot word meaning both deer and just so, a deer left tracks just as he feared a person would.
Fifth line, “koto mo arikeri”: keri marks a realization, closing on the surprise that such a thing could happen.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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