Once, when he had gone to someone’s house to avoid a directional taboo, he was dressed in one of his host’s robes and composed this as he prepared to return it the following morning.
蝉のはのよるの衣はうすけれどうつりがこくもにほひぬるかな
semi no Fa no
yoru no koromo Fa
usukeredo
uturiga koku mo
niFoFinuru kana
A cicada’s wing is
This night robe:
Thin, indeed, yet
Its lingering fragrance hangs heavy
In my nostrils still.
Upon being asked by Prince Koretaka for the poems which his father had composed while he was alive, Tomonori wrote them out and sent them, composing this poem and putting it at the end.
ことならば事のはさへもきえななむ見れば涙のたぎまさりけり
koto naraba
koto no Fa saFe mo
kienanamu
mireba namida no
tagi masarikeri
If it’s all the same
I wish that even his words
Would vanish away,
For at the sight of them my tears
Fall in cataracts.