Saoshika no ono ga sumu no no ominaeshi hana ni akazu to ne o ya nakuramu

さを鹿の己が住む野の女郎花
花に飽かずと音をや鳴くらむ

Roma-ji: Saoshika no ono ga sumu no no ominaeshi hana ni akazu to ne o ya nakuramu
English Translation: The stag of the moor,
at the maidenflower that blooms
where he makes his home,
crying that he cannot tire
of its blossoms—is that his voice?
Meaning: Is the stag crying aloud because he can never tire of the maidenflower blooming in the meadow where he lives?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 241

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems on deer"
The poet wonders whether the stag is crying aloud because he can never tire of gazing at the maidenflower blooming in the meadow where he lives. Hearing the stag's cry for its mate as a cry of longing for a flower, he gracefully portrays the pairing of stag and maidenflower.
In the source text consulted, a character in the last line is missing and has been supplied from the Teika text's ne o ya nakuramu.

Line 1: sa is a prefix, "the stag."
Line 2 means "of the meadow where he lives."
Line 3 names the maidenflower, whose name drew the poet in 217; here it is the stag that is drawn to it. The maidenflower is likened to a woman, echoing the stag's longing for his mate.
Line 4 means "that he cannot tire of the flowers."
Line 5: ya is an interrogative binding particle concluded by the attributive of the present conjectural ramu, wondering whether the stag cries aloud.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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