Hodo mo naku samenuru yume no uchi naredo sono yo ni nitaru hana no iro kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ほどもなく覚めぬる夢の中なれど
その世に似たる花の色かな

Roma-ji: Hodo mo naku samenuru yume no uchi naredo sono yo ni nitaru hana no iro kana
English Translation: Though it was a dream
from which you woke all too soon,
within that brief time—
how like the colors of that reign
the hue of these flowers seems!
Meaning: Though your reign was a dream from which you woke all too soon, how like the colors of that time the hue of these flowers is.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1584

Headnote: "Offered attached to shaved flowers at the Buddha-Names Service in the year after Retired Emperor Kazan abdicated."
This is the eighth poem of the sequence on winter. Though the reign was a dream from which he woke all too soon, the poet says, the color of the flowers resembles that time. According to the headnote, it was offered attached to shaved flowers at the Buddha-Names Service in the year after Retired Emperor Kazan abdicated.
The author, "Former Major Counselor Kintō," was the son of Regent Fujiwara no Yoritada. He rose to Major Counselor and compiled the Wakan Rōeishū.
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. Emperor Kazan took the tonsure and abdicated after about two years on the throne.
Mikata no Senji's reply to this poem is placed as the next poem.

The first line, "hodo mo naku," means "all too soon." It shows how short Retired Emperor Kazan's reign was.
The second line, "samenuru yume no," means "of a dream from which one has woken." It likens the short reign to a dream.
The third line, "uchi naredo," means "though it was within that time."
The fourth line, "sono yo ni nitaru," means "resembling that reign." It recalls the Buddha-Names Service during his reign.
The last line, "hana no iro kana," closes with the exclamatory "kana." As Retired Emperor Suzaku found the feeling of the past in the shaved flowers in the preceding poem, here too the shaved flowers show the image of a bygone reign, recalling Kazan's brief rule.
Author: Fujiwara no Kintō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Toki sugite shimo ni kienishi hana naredo kyō wa mukashi no kokochi koso sure
Next Poem: Mishi yume o izure no yo zo to omou ma ni ori o wasurenu hana no kanashisa