Chitose to zo kusamura goto ni kikoyu naru ko ya matsumushi no koe ni wa aru ran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

千年とぞ草むらごとに聞こゆなる
こや松虫の声にはあるらん

Roma-ji: Chitose to zo kusamura goto ni kikoyu naru ko ya matsumushi no koe ni wa aru ran
English Translation: A thousand years—so
from every clump of grasses
the voices call out;
could this be the very voice
of the pine crickets singing?
Meaning: From every clump of grass comes the cry "a thousand years"—could this be the voice of the pine crickets?
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 295

Headnote: "At the house of Lord Rengi, when people were asked to compose poems on the topic Insects at Night amid the Grasses"
The poet says that from every clump of grass comes a voice crying "a thousand years," and that this must be the voice of the pine crickets. Because the "matsu" (pine) of "matsumushi" recalls the thousand-year pine, he hears the insects' voices as voices of blessing and celebrates his host's long life. According to the headnote, it was composed when people were asked to write on the topic "insects at night amid the grasses" at the house of Lord Rengi, that is, Fujiwara no Yoritada. The headnote in the source text has a corrupted form of the word for grasses, which is read here as "kusamura."
Taira no Kanemori, of a Taira line descended from Emperor Kōkō, was a poet of the mid-Heian period. He is known for his performance at the palace poetry contest of the fourth year of Tentoku and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "chitose to zo," means "a thousand years," emphasized by the particle "zo."
Second line, "kusamura goto ni," means "from every clump of grass."
Third line, "kikoyu naru," means "seems to be heard," with "naru" an auxiliary of inference from sound, resolving "zo" in its attributive form. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "ko ya matsumushi no," means "is this the pine cricket's," with "ko" a demonstrative and "ya" a questioning particle. The "matsu" of "matsumushi" echoes the thousand-year pine, taking up the pine poems that precede it through the insect's name.
Final line, "koe ni wa aru ran," means "could it be the voice," with "ya" resolved by the attributive "ran." The next poem, 296, sings of the plovers' voices, so poems of voices continue from insect to bird.
Author: Taira no Kanemori
Source: Shui Wakashu
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