Light Inversion

My torch is upside down,
and it consumes me;
I didn't know
that I had turned it over.
I never realized the actual moment
the light that was
bright enough
upright enough
got too dim to see --
like going from the black into the red,
like slipping from my interest
to my principal --
unawares --
compelled by life itself
(by death itself)
to continue
to consume
even me.