Tanabata ni hanazomegoromo nugikaseba akatsukitsuyu no kaesu narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

七夕に花染め衣脱ぎかせば
暁露のかへすなりけり

Roma-ji: Tanabata ni hanazomegoromo nugikaseba akatsukitsuyu no kaesu narikeri
English Translation: To the Weaver Maid
I lent my robe dyed with flowers,
taking it off,
and the dew of break of day
has brought it back to me
Meaning: When I took off my flower-dyed robe and lent it to the Weaver Maid, it was the dew of dawn that returned it to me.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 240

Headnote: "Composed by the Retired Emperor on the feeling of Tanabata among the poems of a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed by Retired Emperor Sutoku himself on the feeling of "Tanabata" within the hundred-poem sequence he called for. When he took off his flower-dyed robe on Tanabata night and lent it to the Weaver Maid, the dew of dawn sent it back to him. Drawing on the custom of offering robes to lend to the Weaver Maid on Tanabata, the poem sees the robe that returns soaked with dew as one that the dew has given back.
The author, "Poem by Retired Emperor Sutoku," is Emperor Sutoku, eldest son of Emperor Toba. Defeated in the Hōgen Disturbance, he was exiled to Sanuki and died there. He loved poetry deeply and is known for calling for the Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequence. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The custom of offering robes on Tanabata night to lend to the Weaver Maid had long appeared in Tanabata poems.
The last line of this text reads "kaesu narikeri," which does not agree with "kakusu narikeri" in the reading line. Here the text is followed.

First line, "tanabata ni": "to the Weaver Maid," the one to whom the robe is lent.
Second line, "hanazomegoromo": a robe dyed with flower colors, a hue easily faded.
Third line, "nugikaseba": "nugi kaseba," "having taken it off and lent it," the realized condition.
Fourth line, "akatsukitsuyu no": "the dew that settles before dawn." Taking up the dawn in the preceding poem, 239, the scene moves to daybreak.
Fifth line, "kaesu narikeri": "kaesu" is to return, and "narikeri" expresses realization, "it was that it returned." The robe that comes back soaked is seen as given back by the dawn dew.
Author: Retired Emperor Sutoku
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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