The initial images signify hatred, yet the end seems to be about hope. A reluctant hope.

I like:
I can / Hear how close to alive we came / That simple time we tried to seem sane
for the juxtaposition (I believe) of “alive” and “sane”

Rise like the air off the flame. Really great line. Same goes for the last few lines.

Pandora… It’s weird. I read it the opposite. The ending is about an extinguishing of everything. Like the sad salve of entropy smearing everything like day old grease paint on the last clown. A blackening of things, perhaps hopeful, in the way memories can be bastions of sanity in a dark time.

Well, I love how different people interpret things differently :) It’s why I do so well at English Literature exams :P

Also, Tad, for the record, I adored the previous structure.