Matsu no koke chitose o kanete oishigere tsuru no kaiko no su to mo mirubeku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

松の苔千歳をかねて生ひ茂れ
鶴の卵の巣とも見るべく

Roma-ji: Matsu no koke chitose o kanete oishigere tsuru no kaiko no su to mo mirubeku
English Translation: Moss upon the pine,
grow thick, looking far ahead
a thousand years to come,
so that you may seem a nest
for the eggs of the crane.
Meaning: Moss upon the pine, grow thick, looking ahead a thousand years, so that you may seem a nest for the crane's eggs.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Congratulatory Poems 1167

Headnote: "When Kuniaki, Senior Assistant Governor-General, prepared a partitioned lunch box for his grandchild's fiftieth day and had a poem written with the painting"
The poet calls on the moss of the pine to grow thick, looking ahead a thousand years, so that it may seem a nest for the crane's eggs. The headnote shows it was written with a painting on a partitioned lunch box that Fujiwara no Kuniaki, Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu, prepared for the celebration of his grandchild's fiftieth day. Likening the moss on the pine to a crane's nest and pairing the long-lived pine and crane, it celebrates a thousand years for the grandchild. Following the preceding poem, 1166, it celebrates a child's growth through the pine and the crane.
The author, written as "Motosuke," is Kiyohara no Motosuke. The father of Sei Shōnagon, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "matsu no koke," means "the moss upon the pine," the look of a pine that has passed long years. It shares the word "matsu" with the first line of the preceding poem, 1166, "matsugae no."
Second line, "chitose o kanete," means "looking ahead a thousand years," with "kanu" meaning to take the future into account beforehand.
Third line, "oishigere," means "grow thick," and the poem breaks after this third line on the imperative.
Fourth line, "tsuru no kaiko no," means "of the crane's eggs," with "kaiko" meaning eggs. It answers the final line of the preceding poem, 1166, "tsuru no hina kana," in singing of the crane's young.
Final line, "su to mo mirubeku," means "so that it may be seen as a nest," with "beku" the continuative form of "beshi," giving in inverted order the purpose of the command in the third line.
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shui Wakashu
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