A poem by Joseph Merrick via Johnny Depp

I've been reading Patti Smith's interview with Johnny Depp and came across...

"Smith: Yesterday you read me a poem written by the Elephant Man. I didn't know he wrote poetry. The poem you recited was heartbreaking. How did you come to find it?

Depp: I made an appointment at the hospital where they had his remains. His skeleton is there, a plaster mask is there, and his hat and veil and all this other stuff is there. And right on the wall next to him is this gorgeous poem that he wrote about himself and about his life: 

Dragging this vile body
Round the years
I am not what first appears
A senseless freak
Devoid of hope or tears.”