Nanigoto ni aki hatenagara saoshika no omoikaeshite tsuma o kouramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

何事にあき果てながらさを鹿の
思ひかへして妻を恋ふらむ

Roma-ji: Nanigoto ni aki hatenagara saoshika no omoikaeshite tsuma o kouramu
English Translation: Why is it, I wonder,
though autumn is over and done,
that the stag again
turns his heart back, and once more
longs for the doe he loves
Meaning: Why is it that, though autumn has ended and his love should have worn out with it, the stag thinks again and once more cries for his mate?
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 265

Autumn is over and winter has come, so why, the poet wonders, does the stag cry again for his mate as if he had changed his mind? With aki meaning both the season of autumn and weariness, the wit lies in a stag whose love should have ended with autumn yet who turns back to it and cries.
The stag crying for his mate is a signature motif of autumn, and the poem expresses the surprise of hearing it in winter.
From poem 257 through poem 266 in this book come poems on the sights of early winter, such as showers and colored leaves.

First line, 'nanigoto ni', means for what reason, answering the ramu of the final line to ask the cause.
Second line, 'aki hatenagara', is a pivot word in which aki is both autumn and aki, weariness, left in kana: though autumn has ended and love should be worn out.
Third line, 'saoshika no', is the stag, sa being a prefix; the stag is sung as the creature that cries for his mate in autumn.
Fourth line, 'omoikaeshite', means thinking again, showing a longing that should have ended taken up once more.
Final line, 'tsuma o kouramu', means does he long for his mate, closing with ramu, which infers a cause.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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