Waga tomo to kimi ga mikaki no kuretake wa chiyo ni ikuyo no kage o souran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が友と君が御垣の呉竹は
千代に幾世の陰を添ふらん

Roma-ji: Waga tomo to kimi ga mikaki no kuretake wa chiyo ni ikuyo no kage o souran
English Translation: The black bamboo that
you have set by your own fence
as a friend to you,
how many ages of shade
will it add to your thousand?
Meaning: The black bamboo that you have planted by your fence as your friend will surely add age upon age of its shade to your thousand years.
Commentary: Book Ten Poems of Celebration 608

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed when he was still a prince staying at the Toba Palace, at a gathering held in the quarters of the Hachijō-in, then called the Princess, where poems were recited on the topic 'Bamboo, the Friend of Distant Years'"
Composed at the same gathering as the two preceding poems. The black bamboo that my lord has planted by his fence as a friend, he says, will add age upon age of shade to his thousand years. Taking up the topic's idea of the bamboo as a friend, the poem has its shade pile ages upon a thousand ages, celebrating a life without end.
The author, "Shunzei, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household," was the son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada. He served as Master of the Empress Dowager's Household, later took the tonsure under the name Shakua, and compiled this anthology at the command of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. At the time of this gathering he still bore the name Akihiro.
This is the third poem in the sequence. Taking up "kuretake ya" of 606 as "kuretake wa," and answering the "bamboo of the low fence" in 607 with the bamboo of "my lord's fence," the three poems form one group from a single gathering.

First line, "waga tomo to": "as my friend," weaving in the topic's "friend." "My" is spoken from my lord's point of view.
Second line, "kimi ga mikaki no": "mikaki" is an honorific for a fence, the fence of a noble residence. It answers "magaki no take no" in the second line of the preceding poem.
Third line, "kuretake wa": the same word as "kuretake ya" in the third line of 606 binds the sequence together.
Fourth line, "chiyo ni ikuyo no": "how many more ages upon a thousand ages." "Yo" recalls the "yo" between bamboo joints, expressing the piling up of years through the bamboo.
Fifth line, "kage o souran": "kage" is the shade of the bamboo, implying protection. "Ran" is the present conjectural "ramu," "it will surely add."
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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