Background: This poem IS in reference to the 1920s X-ray technician, and an ill-fated patient who died of tuberculosis. The woman’s name was Maria Elena de Hoyos, whose decomposed body was kept for 8 years by Count Carl von Cosel, a one-time radiologic technologist at Marine Hospital, a now defunct facility. After Her body was discovered, von Cosel was jailed, and later released.

In Death, if Death were the end, if Death were divine
A thousand kisses on forbidden lips, will come in time.
To waste away to nothing, one who cannot be saved,
I throw my arms around you, where in silence you are laid.

In dark midnight I do creep, unto the wooden door
Open it with a heavy heart, and place the candles on the floor.
In the warm pale glow I lift you, down in front of me,
Tangle my limbs together with yours, to feel what Angels feel.

My sorrow for your passing grows ten fold with each day
I still desire you beside me, even as your beauty fades with decay.
I cannot let you leave me alone, to suffer this life without you here,
I’m going to take you home again; I need you to stay eternally near.

I steal you away from the cold damnation, the severity of the stone
I bathe you gently in Jasmine oil, it’s good to have you home.
In a pristine dress of white, that was meant for our wedding day,
In this bed forever lie, beside you, I, can be happy now this way.

These years they pass, and your love grows ever colder
You disintegrate in my arms, just as myself, I cannot stand you getting older.
So I coat your sacred body in wax, to keep your precious beauty,
Today, tonight, forever, and always, you are as you were meant to be.

Here we are, together now all these years
Because my love has been beside me, there was no time for tears.
As our lives go on, they notice you’re gone, and creep outside my door,
They smell your musk, among the rust, and I fear the worst in store.

They’ve come for you my darling; they’ve come to take you away
With screams, and wails I let you go, my heart is taken, my flesh torn away.
Sobbing on the hard wood floor, with but one piece left of my heaven,
I hold your mask up to my face, my beauty, my soul, a life with you I’ve taken

I will not let you leave me again, to slip away into this night
I promise to find you, and be with you soon, back with arms to hold you tight.
Until that day I will pray, that you watch over this broken heart,
I’ll drown in my sorrow, but Death will bring us together, never again will we part.

• undescribed feelin
• a place called home
• thousand eyes
• friend…