classic waka stream

誰れかまた心を知りて住吉の
神代を経たる松にこと問ふ
Roma-ji

Tare ka mata kokoro o shirite Sumiyoshi no
kamiyo o hetaru matsu ni koto tou

English Translation
Who else, knowing what
has passed, would come and speak now
to the pine that stands
here at Sumiyoshi, grown
old since the age of the gods
Meaning
Who else, knowing all that has passed, would come and speak to this pine at Sumiyoshi, standing here since the age of the gods?
Commentary
Part Two: Wakana Ge

　The Reizei Emperor gave up the throne, and the first prince, borne by the Akashi Consort, was named Heir Apparent. Every vow the old man of Akashi had once made to the god of Sumiyoshi had now been answered. In the Tenth Month Genji went there to discharge them. He had meant the party to be modest, and even so it showed the height of his present power. Court dances were performed before the shrine, and Genji remembered the years he had spent sunk at Suma and Akashi as though they were before his eyes. He sent this poem to the Akashi nun, who had come with the party.

　"Knowing what has passed" is knowing the whole course of it, from the prayers at Akashi to this day. Sumiyoshi is the shrine in Settsu where the Akashi family had made their vows for so long. "The pine grown old since the age of the gods" has stood through all that time and is set there as its witness. "Speak to" is to address a thing in words. To say that he alone can talk with this pine is to say what those years with the Akashi family have meant to him—a fitting reflection from a man at the summit of his fortune.
Author
Murasaki Shikibu
Source
Genji Monogatari
Other