Agreeing Tenses (Collaboration with Wafflenose)

And the afternoon
crept in slowly
like a sleepy rain.
It felt suffocating,
as though tightly knotted ties
would no longer let us breathe.
 
Oppressive and sultry,
the warm breeze
did nothing to refresh.
The heaviness of
atmosphere and weather
stifled us both.
 
I needed to escape;
to breathe.
 
To breathe once more!
I raced to your side.
Flowers adorned your body.
Words hung feverishly around you.
 
The news arrived in due course;
bullet points and commas
twisting in the air
above you.
 
Over your body:
lapidary stones.
All around you:
newspapers recounted
details, deaths and remains.
 
Over your body,
fragments of clothing.
over your body
sulphuric acid.
Your beautiful skin.