Akihagi o kusa no makura ni musubu yo wa chikaku mo shika no koe o kiku kana - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋萩を草の枕に結ぶ夜は
近くも鹿の声を聞くかな

Roma-ji: Akihagi o kusa no makura ni musubu yo wa chikaku mo shika no koe o kiku kana
English Translation: Autumn bush clover
as my pillow of grasses
I bind on this night,
and close beside me, the deer,
its voice is what I hear
Meaning: On a night when I bind autumn bush clover into a pillow of grass, I hear the cry of the deer close beside me.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 125

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The author is listed here as an unnumbered poet, but the Shikashu attributes the poem to Fujiwara no Koreie.
On a night of sleeping in the open on a journey, with bush clover bound as a pillow, the deer's voice sounds close by. Since bush clover was thought of as the deer's mate, there is a sense that the deer has come near because of the pillow. Against the distant deer of the preceding poem, it pairs a deer heard close at hand.

The first line, "akihagi o," means "autumn bush clover," a plant often paired with deer.
The second line, "kusa no makura ni," means "as a pillow of grass," made by binding grasses on a journey.
The third line, "musubu yo wa," means "on the night I bind it."
The fourth line, "chikaku mo shika no," means "the deer close by," contrasting near and far with the deer's voice in the preceding poem, 124.
The last line, "koe o kiku kana," closes with the exclamatory kana: "I hear its voice."
Source: Shika Wakashu
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