Hitori fusu kusa no makura no yoru no tsuyu wa tomo naki shika no namida narikeri

ひとり臥す草の枕の夜の露は
友なき鹿の涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Hitori fusu kusa no makura no yoru no tsuyu wa tomo naki shika no namida narikeri
English Translation: Lying all alone
on my pillow made of grass
the dew of the night
is nothing but the tears
of a deer without a mate.
Meaning: The night dew on my pillow of grass where I lie alone is the tears of a deer that has no companion.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 576

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A deer on a journey"
Sleeping alone on a pillow of grass, the poet finds night dew on it, and realizes it is the tears of a lonely deer crying for its mate. The traveller's solitude and the deer's are laid together, and the dew is also the traveller's tears.
The Ruijū text places it in its travel section and lacks wa in line 3.

Line 1 means "lying alone"; it shares its first two lines with the next poem, 577.
Line 2 means "of the pillow of grass," sleep on the road.
Line 3 means "the dew of night," six syllables, one beyond the norm.
Line 4 means "of a deer with no companion," a stag crying for its mate.
Line 5 means "are the tears," keri expressing realization.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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