brown-shirted ice

haiku

among friends is fear

to walk their children to school

where brown ice awaits

without warmth

gossip over the back fence

was often merely meant to keep fellow

villagers informed so they, too,

might pray for neighbor’s health and joy

gossip on blunt email lacks

the softening effect of person to person

misses touch’s feeling we are all human

and comes across as callous bullying