Sleep story · quiet, books
A library at closing time — a slow story for the end of the day, when you are at home and cannot settle — for an overtired night
The last hour, when the lights go down row by row.
Lights off. Press begin and let the story read itself to you, at the pace of sleep.
Screen on or off — we suggest dimming it, or simply closing your eyes after the first paragraph.
The story, in full
There is a trolley of returned books beside the desk, waiting to be put back. The reading room you are in has one lamp left on, and it is the one above your table. Your own book is heavy in your hands, and you have stopped reading it.
The clock above the door is the old kind, with a second hand that moves in small jumps. The air smells of paper, dust and floor polish. The windows are dark enough now to reflect the room back at you.
Let your calves spread out and flatten. Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be.
Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow. Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you.
Someone is pushing a trolley two rows away, and you can hear each wheel separately. The carpet has flattened every sound in the building down to nothing.
Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them. Feel your heartbeat somewhere far away.
If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else. Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine. Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed.
They will find their own way out. Almost nothing to do now.
Just the dark. Let the sound of this go soft at the edges. Let the breath be the only thing you are doing.
Being at home and unable to settle is a very specific problem.
The room is dark, the day is finished, and nothing is required of you.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, books.
If this story does not settle you, try A field under snow — a slow story for the end of the day, when you are cold and want to be warm — for an overtired night, Sleep story: a garden in the rain, when you are at home and cannot settle — for a night when you do not want to think or An attic room, when your attention is scattered — for a racing mind.