Tare o ka mo shiru hito ni semu takasago no matsu mo mukashi no tomo naranaku ni - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

誰をかも知る人にせむ高砂の
松も昔の友ならなくに

Roma-ji: Tare o ka mo shiru hito ni semu takasago no matsu mo mukashi no tomo naranaku ni
English Translation: Whom, then, shall I
take as one who knows my heart?
Even the pine
of Takasago was not
a friend of mine of old.
Meaning: Whom shall I now count as one who knows me? Even the ancient pine of Takasago was never a friend of my younger days.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 909

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Grown old, with all his close friends gone, the poet laments his loneliness, wondering whom he can take as a friend who knows his heart. Even the pine of Takasago, which has lived as long as he, is no friend from the old days, and the poem voices deeply the loneliness of age.
The author, "Fujiwara no Okikaze," is Fujiwara no Okikaze, son of Fujiwara no Michinari, also known as a master of the koto. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
This poem is widely known as poem 34 of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line "tare o ka mo": the question ka with the exclamatory mo forms a kakari-musubi with mu in the second line.
Second line "shiru hito ni semu" means "shall I make someone my intimate friend," and the poem pauses here.
Third line "takasago no" sings, like the preceding poem, 908, of Takasago in Harima, famous for its pines.
Fourth line "matsu mo mukashi no" means even the pine, symbol of long life.
Fifth line "tomo naranaku ni" is the nominalized negative naku with ni, giving by inversion the reason: it is no friend. It shares its form with the preceding poem's last line, "matsu naranaku ni," making the two a pair.
Author: Fujiwara no Okikaze
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kaku shitsutsu yo o ya tsukusamu takasago no onoe ni tateru matsu naranaku ni
Next Poem: Watatsumi no okitsu shioai ni ukabu awa no kienu mono kara yoru kata mo nashi