Every night, after listening to the day's reading, Gilly sends a blessing for sleep. Over six years she has invented her own language of goodnight — words that don't quite exist, made tender by repetition and ritual. There are over 280 unique blessings. These are some of them.
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Sleep a cottage sleep
Sleep after the beauty of your days
Sleep autumnallly
Sleep birthday sleep
Sleep blessed by blackberry and apple crumble
Sleep Blue Boar sleep
Sleep by the waves
Sleep Christmasly
Sleep cloudily
Sleep contedly
Sleep cottage Fridayli
Sleep cottage sleep
Sleep cottagely
Sleep countryside sleep
Sleep deep in Turkish sea air
Sleep deeply in Welsh air
Sleep dreamfully
Sleep dreamsomly
Sleep end of weekly
Sleep fastly
Sleep fatherly
Sleep Fridayly
Sleep full of the beauty of the beach
Sleep holidayly
Sleep in birthday belovedness
Sleep In coolth
Sleep in my gratitude
Sleep in soft Welsh air
Sleep in the calm of the landscape
Sleep in the winter darkness
Sleep in Welsh cloudscape
Sleep into the new year with all its promise
Sleep knowingly
Sleep like a dormouse
Sleep lovedly
Sleep mountain quiet
Sleep of the well walked
Sleep on clouds
Sleep pre dinosaurs
Sleep pre solstice sleep
Sleep quietly and dream Neolithic dreams
Sleep quietly. You are always in my mind
Sleep rainbow sleep
Sleep relaxfully
Sleep restoratively (not a word but should be)
Sleep restoredly
Sleep satisfiedly
Sleep settledly
Sleep snugly Nzled
Sleep somnolently
Sleep soothed by the beauty of your canal walk
Sleep strengtheningly
Sleep strengthenly
Sleep swimfully
Sleep sympatheticly
Sleep the sleep of Christmas Eve. Your first Christmas as a grandfather
Sleep under Welsh clouds
Sleep walkfully
Sleep weekendishly
Sleep well on this moonlight night
Sleep well perhaps with dreams or poems about the graceful egret
Sleep Welshly
Sleep wholesomely
Sleep with ancient dreams
Sleep with cloud blessing
Sleep with memories of the evening colours
Sleep with rolled up sleeves
Sleep with sheeply thoughts
Sleep with the landscape
Sleep with the owls
Sleep wrapped against autumnal chill
Sleep wrapped in gratitude