Aki narade tsuma yobu shika o kikishi kana orikara koe no mi ni wa shimu ka to - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋ならで妻呼ぶ鹿を聞きしかな
折から声の身にはしむかと

Roma-ji: Aki narade tsuma yobu shika o kikishi kana orikara koe no mi ni wa shimu ka to
English Translation: When it was not fall
I listened to the stag who
calls out for his mate,
to learn if it is the season
that makes his cry pierce the heart
Meaning: I listened to a stag calling for its mate when it was not autumn, to learn whether it is the season that makes its cry pierce the heart.
Commentary: Book Eleven Variant Poems 679

The poet listened to a stag calling for its mate when it was not autumn, wondering whether it is the season that makes its voice so piercing. The poem expresses the poignancy of the stag's autumn cry through the conceit of testing it in another season.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 226 in Book Three. Poems on stags longing for their mates continue from 222 in Book Three.

First line, 'aki narade', means when it was not autumn, using the negative particle de.
Second line, 'tsuma yobu shika o', means the stag calling for its mate.
Third line, 'kikishi kana', means I listened, the attributive of the past ki with kana; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'orikara koe no', means whether by the season its voice, pointing to autumn.
Final line, 'mi ni wa shimu ka to', means to see if it pierces the heart, inverted with the lines before.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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