Maybe

I know how to break a creator’s heart.

Simply tell them, “maybe”.

Maybe things will change, maybe tomorrow won’t be the same, maybe I’ll answer the phone when you call.

There is no word more venomous, more potent, more damning than the word ‘maybe’ to a creative person, for the creator knows that ‘maybe’ does not exist in creation.

No, in creation, there simply is or there isn’t.

What artist traces a line onto a blank canvas with the word ‘maybe’ in mind? What composer inserts a note in just the right place, hoping ‘maybe’? What writer frantically scribbles down a passing thought onto a note-pad thinking, ‘maybe’?

No, the creator knows.
The creator knows what is and what isn’t.

Should something unwanted find its way into the composition, a misplaced line, a wrong note, a poor choice of words, it is destroyed.

The creator sees the grand result before it even exists, and in the struggle to snatch it from vision to reality, knows what must stay and what must go.

‘Maybe’ has no place in the vast world of creation.

Maybe the sun will rise for just one more day, maybe the moon will come out for just one more night, maybe your heart will beat just one more beat.

No, there is no such thing.

So now you know why every time you tell me ‘maybe’,

you maybe just broke my heart.