You watch an old man, bent
Grey face, white hair
A black look from dead eyes
- Life gets into them
...
Read full text
The explosion/fire isn't to be seen as a real one, but it's a metaphore. I think that there's a certain power in the way you look at someone. And the person couldn't stand the old man's look, the past had caught him at last. The way he ('finally') dies is not that important. It was the power of the memories, the power of a twisted kind of remorse that finally caused the end - they drove him into (self-) destruction. It was the curse of his past.
The evil that men do in their past lives come forth as incurable illnesses