the value of a therapist

they save you from having to listen
when you know you are not equipped to help,
they save you from dumping your pile of debris into someone's lap
because the load is so heavy you can no longer carry it.
I'm not sure how they do it, but just as the large truck
arrives in the back alley, swinging its robotic arm over the bin,
so the carton of our history is swung over head and emptied
into another space to be sorted out, the metal from the paper,
the glass from the plastic, to be spread across a table for
examination and disposal, in this way are we healed.