tell me what ill is it of me
that you can say by tongue or pen
that i haven't already screamed at a mirror
a thousand times over
a thousand times again

but i have faced far worse than you before
and will face a hundred more
and then
i fight and pray and survive
a thousand times over
a thousand times again

boys like you smell of mint and wood and pain
and taste like my insatiable thirst and the midsummer rain

bringing an array of gifts to girls like me
chocolate for breakfast and heartbreak for afternoon tea

boys like you rarely have time to stop, stare and rue
but boy, time stops to stare at you

boys like you bolt their hearts in golden chains
and have vengeance in their eyes and titanium in their veins

an impenetrable fortress deaf to my love's incessant humming
Boy you are my wreckage, my destruction.
My unbecoming.

Little girl who taught you
that your body is an object of shame
Girl of God
of Truth
ordained.

Who taught you to hide
When you hear his name
Girl of blood
of power
of pain

Little girl who taught you
To be timid and tame
Girl of wrath
of beauty
of flame

Listen to me girl
Fight your demons for a longer while
Girl, little girl, I taste the revolution
             in your smile

Cupid comes a'knocking
Who is it what do you want
I come bearing gifts girl
Don’t be afraid open up
No Cupid not again
Haven't you done enough
When you lit my heart aflame
Plunged me into the deepest depths of pain
No cupid not again
No more joy turning to rust in my veins
And my heart beating beaten and bruised
And my eyes falling like summer rain
No cupid not again
I can't do this anymore
Aim that broken bow away from my heart
Find some other fool's door
Its different this time girl
This time I brought you the one
With brown locks and a crooked smile
And eyes that shine like the sun
Open up girl
Love can be rewritten and redone
It’s a process of years and centuries and eons
A persevering stroll not a manic run
Don’t lie to me Cupid
When your hands still hold the smoking gun
Rome wasn’t built in a day
But it sure was destroyed in one
There is nothing left to give of me can't you see
There is nothing left to be won
You failed me before Cupid
When you shot at him and missed
And he didn’t care a **** for me
While I dreamt of him in colours that don’t exist
How many more victims will you find
How many more hearts will you break like mine
How many more souls will your bow plunder and defile
Not anymore Cupid. Not this time.
I sharpen my claws and smile a wicked smile
Hone the fires burning in my eyes all the while
Prepare to rip the white wings off his body
Prepare to sear his halo to char
Come in Cupid, I whisper
The door is left ajar

He roars aloud and breaks and tears
And puffs out his mane and his fangs he bears
As if to tell me and all others (but especially me)
That there is no power and might as he
And he walks with that regal ego
That he was born into
Over the corpses of the fallen
Over my half-dead body too
So blinded by his beauty he can barely even conceive
That the pawn he pushed away is the royal he needs
But he can't hear beyond his own roar
Can't see past his mane
Can't see that the light at the end of the tunnel
Is actually just a train
Thinks his image will forever burn in her brain
And he might bring the fire but she brings the rain
And she steps out the mud with broken bloodied bones
Marches through the castle like its already her own
Howls at the moon and sets fire to the stones
With a hand on her heart and her eyes on the throne
Tell them to hoist the flags, tell them to let the wolves roam
Tell the King of the Jungle
That the Queen has come home

Would you like to believe you've hurt me
Would like to think you've caused my fall
But the truth of the matter, is that its mind over matter
And you don’t really matter at all

Would you like to believe that you stole my happy
When you tried to wrench the joy from my core
But laughter is loving, and loving is living
And you don’t live in my laugh anymore

Would you like to believe that my wounds are eternal
Would you like me to concede
Well my blood is thick and if you shed another drop
My blood will make yours bleed

Would you like to think you've won
When your eyes don’t meet mine when we speak
But talk is just talk and I'm done talking
Because without a walk, words are weak

No, my heart did not beat faster
When I caught that glimmer in your eyes
No, it is not a home for secrets masqueraded in laughs
Nor a drunken love in disguise

No. My pillow is not a rainforest
Holding my tears, my cries
And I am certainly not enamoured enough
To suffer the low lows, climb the high highs

Of course I do not expect the universe
To let your whimsical words actualize
No. I do not whisper your name in the dark,
When the fear intensifies

No. I do not want to hear your voice
Your cheers of victory or exasperated sighs
The tears keep rolling down my face
I guess I'm good at telling lies.

When he comes home and tears a piece of you away like chipping wood of a bark
And tells you you’re not good enough, "You’re really not that smart"
Refuses to walk out of the way when you're crossing his path
And leers at your skin like you're a worn piece of art
Touches your body and calls you scarred
But if the sight of another man's eyes made my body unclean
Is the dirt from my body or those eyes that seen?
When he slams a fist in your face like its an old punching bag
Drags you by the hair like an overused rag
When he forces his way into you "It wasn’t that bad"
Why is he allowed to operate heavy machinery
When the sight of my naked legs can drive him mad
"She must have been asking for it" "They're meant for breeding"    
I am sorry the sound of my NO was so misleading
"Know your place" he says, women can't be leading
Remind him
That everything he can do, you can do bleeding
Remind him who you are and for what you are known
A force of nature that cannot be owned
The one they compare to the warships and the black widow
With the rage of the fire and the ice of the snow
Remind him.
That your storm will break his bravado if you just blew
For hurricanes were not named after him.
They're named
after
You.

Enough rope to keep me hanging onto nothing

Enough hope to keep me wishing we were something