"That Girl Is Dead" // Last Updated 27.July.2007

This is spur of the moment bullshit at its finest.

This shell is not the girl you knew
with those weepy eyes of blue
and that tousled hair of brown,
that silly little girl you could own
or break or bruise just as long
as you made her think you loved strong.

No, that girl is dead.

This shell is not the girl you had
all those times while your dad
sat unaware in the living room
and she spoke of such angsty gloom
with her heart there on her sleeve only
so you could break it in cases of emergency.

No, that girl is dead.

This shell is not the girl you told
Those simple lies. Now, behold!
The eyes glaring at you are not
those same eyes, though you forgot
the color, anyway. It's been
a long time comin'.

You never realized but
this shell encases the phoenix—
the hidden spark of that undying soul.
In fire and through pain, these droll
little things you couldn't bother to notice,
these little things that ate away like mice
at the core of that girl and sculpted her
Into this strange creature, this Regina Lupa heir.
Blazin' and snarlin', you can see her now
In her sublime glory. So, down, boy! Bow
to the Queen Wolf and be sure you know
it was always ad hominem, quid pro quo.
You can never go back to those skinny little arms
That would have protected you from all harms
And showered you in affection.

                                                   O, no,
that girl is dead. The rhythm and rhyme is so apropos,
it reads forced, but these thoughts
fall out easily in these patterns, like all those ought's
that once haunted her sleep.

                                              But
that girl is dead. No more doubts, no more — O, shut
your mouth and listen for once!
Can't you hear the strain in the cadence,
or are you deaf even now?
No more why, no more who, no more how!
The masquerade is over, and this is me,
naked and screaming between the lines, like a bean sidhe,
but it's my own death I foretell.

Yes, that girl is dead! On one last spell,
she wasted all her magic and love and hope and joy,
all for a man that was really a boy,
all for "that fickle bitch romance,"
and "the dream is over,"
"the child is gone,"
and "home is nowhere."

So, that girl is as dead as the rhyme,
and there's no rhythm hidden here
in the rigor mortis or the slow decomposition.
This is no poem, you see,
you god-damn fool, you false, frivolous friend,
and you'd know if you'd listen
to these words, these 'lines
written in dejection.'
Even in death, she has no
need of you, no
want of you, no
like of you, no,

that girl is dead.

Regina Lupa, from the Latin, means literally "Queen Wolf." Lupa also means "prostitute" in a looser sense.

ad hominem, also from the Latin, means 'to the man.' It refers to a common informal logic fallacy, arguments to the man, meaning arguments about a person character rather than the issue at hand. For example, 'That view is wrong because Clinton supported it and he is a liar and adulterer.' Quid pro quo means 'something for something,' and, in a legal sense, is the concept of getting something of value in return for giving something of value.

Bean sidhe is the Irish name for a banshee.

"That fickle, little bitch romance" is from "Shores of California" by Dresden Dolls. "The dream is over" is from a song, I'm sure, but I can't recall right now. "The Child Is Gone" is a song by Fiona Apple. "but home is nowhere" is a song by AFI.

"lines written in dejection" is from several different poets, including but not limited to Yeats and Shelley.