Toki sugite shimo ni kienishi hana naredo kyō wa mukashi no kokochi koso sure - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

時過ぎて霜に消えにし花なれど
今日は昔の心地こそすれ

Roma-ji: Toki sugite shimo ni kienishi hana naredo kyō wa mukashi no kokochi koso sure
English Translation: Though these be flowers
that, their season long gone by,
have vanished in the frost,
today they give me a feeling
of the days of long ago.
Meaning: Though the flowers vanished in the frost when their season passed, today these shaved flowers make me feel as if I were back in the days of long ago.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1583

Headnote: "On seeing shaved flowers on the morning of the Buddha-Names Service."
This is the seventh poem of the sequence on winter. Though the flowers vanished in the frost when their season passed, the emperor says, the shaved flowers make today feel like the days of long ago. According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing shaved flowers on the morning of the Buddha-Names Service.
The author, "the Poem of Retired Emperor Suzaku," is Emperor Suzaku. A son of Emperor Daigo, during his reign the rebellions of Taira no Masakado and Fujiwara no Sumitomo broke out. He later yielded the throne to his younger brother, Emperor Murakami.
The Buddha-Names refers to the Buddha-Names Service, a rite held for three days in the twelfth lunar month at the palace and elsewhere, in which the names of the Buddhas of past, present, and future were chanted to repent the sins of the year. Shaved flowers were artificial flowers made by shaving wood into the shape of blossoms, offered before the Buddha.

The first line, "toki sugite," means "their season having passed."
The second line, "shimo ni kienishi," means "that vanished in the frost." It shows that now, in winter, there are no real flowers.
The third line, "hana naredo," uses the concessive "do," meaning "though they are flowers."
The fourth line, "kyō wa mukashi no," means "today, of long ago." The shaved flowers recall the flowering of long ago.
The last line, "kokochi koso sure," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "koso" with the perfective form "sure." In the artificial flowers offered at a winter rite, he finds the feeling of spring blossoms long past, and the next two poems also sing of shaved flowers at the Buddha-Names Service.
Author: Retired Emperor Suzaku
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Somayama ya kozue ni omoru yukiore ni taenu nageki no mi o kudakuran
Next Poem: Hodo mo naku samenuru yume no uchi naredo sono yo ni nitaru hana no iro kana