Sleep story · winter, still
A field under snow — a slow story for the end of the day, when the house is busy — for jet lag
Everything muffled, everything white, and no tracks but yours.
Reading it yourself. Back to the audio version.
There are no footprints anywhere except the ones behind you. The snow came down all afternoon and has now stopped, leaving the field completely unmarked. Your hands are warm inside your gloves and cold at the wrists.
Nothing in this field needs to be done today or tomorrow. The sound of your own boots is the loudest thing for half a mile. The air is so cold it feels dry, and your breath is visible for a long time.
Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them. Let your forearms get heavy and warm.
Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow. Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you.
The light is flat and grey and does not cast shadows. There is a gate at the far end of the field, half buried and not going anywhere.
Let your palms open if they were closed. Your ankles can go loose now.
Let your toes stop holding on to anything. Feel your cheeks let go.
The snow on the branches is holding, and every so often a small amount slides off. The farmhouse at the top of the hill has one window lit.
Your chest can be still now. Let your shoulder blades spread out and drop.
The fence posts are capped with snow and look shorter than they are. A single crow crosses the field and lands on the fence, then thinks better of it.
Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it. Let your calves spread out and flatten.
If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment. Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress. Feel one shoulder go heavy, then the other.
Just the weight. They will find their own way out.
Let your breathing do the rest. Stay with the weight of your body. Softer.
Let the breath be the only thing you are doing. Nothing needs deciding tonight. Let the next part go past without you.
It works with other people in the house. You do not need silence.
There is nothing more to follow. Let the rest happen on its own.