classic waka stream

色変へぬ松と竹とのすゑのよを
いづれ久しと君のみぞ見ん
Roma-ji

Iro kaenu matsu to take to no sue no yo o izure hisashi to kimi nomi zo min

English Translation
The pine and bamboo
that never change their color—
which lasts the longer
through the ages yet to come,
you alone shall see and know.
Meaning
Of the pine and the bamboo that never change their color, which will last longer through the ages to come—you alone shall see.
Commentary
Book Five Celebration Poems 275

Headnote: "For a folding screen when the celebration for the Empress was held in the fourth year of Jōhei"
The poet says that only the one being honored will be able to see which of the ever-green pine and bamboo lasts longer into the ages to come. Setting the endurance of pine and bamboo, emblems of long life, against each other, the poem celebrates a life long enough to see the contest through. According to the headnote, it was written for a folding screen at the celebration held for the Empress in the fourth year of Jōhei (934). This Empress is thought to be Fujiwara no Onshi, consort of Emperor Daigo and mother of Emperor Suzaku, and the year marked her fiftieth birthday.
Who is meant by the author's name, Saigū no Naishi, is not settled. Saigū no Naishi was a title for a lady-in-waiting serving the High Priestess of Ise.

First line, "iro kaenu," means "never changing color," that is, evergreen. Like the final line of 264 in this book, "iro wa kawaraji," it entrusts long life to unchanging color.
Second line, "matsu to take to no," means "of the pine and the bamboo," both evergreen emblems of long life. The next poem, 276, sings of a bamboo staff.
Third line, "sue no yo o," plays on "yo" as the ages to come and as the space between the joints of bamboo. 297 in this book also sings of the "sue no yo" of flute bamboo.
Fourth line, "izure hisashi to," means "which lasts the longer."
Final line, "kimi nomi zo min," means "you alone will see," with "zo" resolved by the attributive of the conjectural auxiliary "n."
Author
Saigū no Naishi
Source
Shui Wakashu
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