Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash

The word maybe is like a drug
To me

Hope and despair all rolled into one.

How can such a simple word cause so much emotion?

When I hear
Maybe
I know that something good might happen,
Something that I’ve been wanting.

Will he call me? Maybe.
If I play this lottery ticket, will I win? Maybe.
Will you be at the party? Maybe.
If I ask for a raise, will I get it? Maybe.

Hope lingers on until I realize that
Maybe
Was just that
Maybe.

He didn’t call
I didn’t win the lottery
You weren’t at the party
The raise never happened

Maybe is a very thin
dangerous line between hope and disappointment.

However,

It is a word so easily thrown around that
Maybe
You aren’t even aware how often you say it.

— Nicole Barden 4/24/2021

Originally published in Illumination on Medium