When the last cathedral candle gutters out—

a hallelujah dying on its knees—

I will ignite myself instead,

become a human firework of verse,

disintegrate in phosphorescent phrases

that spell your name across the dark matter

where gods forgot to pay their light bills.

Become a human firework of verse:

this is my final thesis statement,

Crimson-spattered syllables

written in lighter fluid

on the walls of this prison cell universe—

the warden called it "inappropriate expression"

so I swallowed the key and tattooed

instructions for escape on my trachea.

Disintegrate in phosphorescent phrases:

watch me atomize into alphabets,

split infinitives like atoms,

ignite syntax wildfires

that burn down the dictionary's

white picket fences.

I was never good at playing dead

inside language's coffin-box,

so I'm performing linguistic necrophilia

on proper grammar's corpse,

reanimating zombie nouns

to devour the living verbs.

That spell your name across the dark matter:

you—existential address unknown,

cosmic addressee of all my unsendable letters,

black hole love interest who swallows

every metaphor I throw into your event horizon.

I've been writing you into being

since before the Big Bang learned to stutter

"I-I-I exist,"

penning love poems in quark-guark ink

on the inside skin of singularities.

Where gods forgot to pay their light bills:

the interviewers always ask

"who's your muse?"

as if inspiration comes

with a subscription model,

as if I don't steal electricity

from abandoned monasteries

to power these midnight typing sessions,

as if I haven't been shoplifting

divine sparks from the same

corner store deity

who sold humanity original sin

at a two-for-one discount.

So when the last cathedral candle gutters out—

don't bother sending flowers.

I'll be busy conducting

this pyrotechnic requiem

for illumination itself,

arranging funeral pyre

matches into candelabras

that burn backwards

toward the moment

when darkness first

learned to write its name

in the ashes

of a borrowed

flame.