Tender Lies of Protection

In the margins of a book translating Taneda Santōka’s writings, my past self scrawled a note in pencil: What is a good example of lying (untruths) through your body—What false words does the body tell? Tonight I cannot recall what I previously questioned.

•29/ Overtime he finally realized the full range of small deceptions his body supplied him on a nightly basis: miscounted steps to the temple grounds, lost tokens of affection from past lovers, blurred hues of blueing shadows within the wilderness of his childhood— all a collection of tender lies of security given to him in small dosages—•