What do the words to Kimigayo mean?

These are the lyrics to Kimigayo:

Thousands of years of happy reign be thine;
Rule on, my Lord, till what are pebbles now
By age united to mightv rocks shall grow
Whose venerable sides the moss doth line.

Kimi can mean lord, household head, friend, or lover.
In modern Japanese kimi is used to address a close companion or a subordinate.
But during the militarist period, kimi also was directly associated with the Emperor.
The overall meaning of the words, simply stated, is somewhat similar to "To your good health! And long life!"
The problem then would probably lie in the fact that the lyrics are antiquated, and the melody too slow for young people accustomed to eight-beat melodies.