Therapeutic Liaisons

Therapeutic Liaisons

I wonder what you think

Of me

If you trust your instinct

Look at my appearance

The affable facade

The urbane refinement,

Ready smile

The way I listen to your every word

Reflect back,

Ask appropriate questions

To ease the conversation

Relax the tension

That can exist in a first meeting

And believe we can be friends.

That I am honest and true

The soul of discretion

Or do I wield sole power

To abuse your trust

Misuse the tidbits you feed me.

Is that what we all do to each other

Eventually

When the veneer of charm

The suave sophistication

With its gentile diplomacy

And dignified elegance

Is peeled away.

Are we paper tigers

Wanting to be trusted

Or do we carry the power

To annihilate

And want to use it.

Am I a place of safety

Somewhere to lay your head

When your world is under siege

A point of difference

When the worst of life

Threatens to bring you down

Or a self-possessed demon

With an eye for a mark

And the world-weariness

Not to give a damn

About the fallout

I might cause.