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, ...