Altars of Sacrifice (published in "A Cup of Comfort for Single Mothers")

by Amy Hudock

I can’t sleep. Again.

I sit on my upper front porch, door open so that I can hear if my daughter wakes up and calls for me from her room. In the pasture across the street, horses graze in the moonlight. I hear their soft snorts as they move lazily along the fence, heads down, jaws grinding.

I remember taking my sleeping bag to the barn when I was child and hearing the same soothing noises as I drifted off to sleep in the hay. Once, I woke n the middle of the night and couldn’t go back to sleep. My pony, Rainyday, was not at all surprised when I gave him a midnight snack and climbed on his back. As I lay back on his haunches, his slow rolling walk rocked me back toward sleep. Part of me wants to go to the horses now and let them help me end this sleeplessness, this anxious being alone in the dark.   Read more.