Combustion

A lotus blossomed on my chest
As my legs, at cross-purpose,
Challenged ghosts.
I felt a flame lick
At my ankles and my lips,
I felt it slide gently town my throat.
It was as if those teeth,
Once racked with smiles
Now contorted
Within my cheeks.
Did I pray on this in secret?
Did I kneel and lie
For one last kiss beyond the veil?
It matters not.
Forever, now till then,
The death-rattle lingered
In my living breath,
Lungs like machines
And candle-wax kidneys
Echo on in my memory.
The agony, the irony.