Tsuma kouru shika zo nakunaru ogurayama yama no yūgiri tachinikemu kamo

妻恋ふる鹿ぞ鳴くなる小倉山
山の夕霧立ちにけむかも

Roma-ji: Tsuma kouru shika zo nakunaru ogurayama yama no yūgiri tachinikemu kamo
English Translation: Longing for his mate,
I can hear a stag cry out—
on Mount Ogura,
have the evening mists arisen
on the mountain, I wonder?
Meaning: I hear a stag crying, longing for his mate—has the evening mist risen over Mount Ogura?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 235

Headnote: "Poems on deer"
Hearing the cry of a stag longing for his mate, the poet wonders whether evening mist has risen over Mount Ogura. He imagines a stag that has lost sight of his mate in the mist, calling for her with all his voice.
The Ruijū text gives the headnote as "Composed on deer." Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle. According to the source's note, the Jōkyō text gives the last line as tachikenkamo, which is likely an error; this edition follows the source text.

Line 1, "longing for his mate," refers to the stag that calls for a doe in autumn.
Line 2 concludes the binding particle zo with naru, inferring from sound, and the poem pauses here. Ten poems from here through 244 sing of deer, and "a stag is crying" recurs as the last line of 236, 237, 238, 240, 243, and 244.
Line 3, Mount Ogura in Saga in Yamashiro, is famed for its deer. The next poem, 236, sings of the same mountain.
Line 4, "the mountain's evening mist," repeats the "mountain" of line 3 to shape the rhythm.
Line 5: kemu is a past conjectural and kamo an exclamatory question, wondering whether the evening mist has risen.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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