Flaming Marble is a 14-line sonnet. Howard mentioned it in a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, circa November 1928 (letter #091), after the editor of The Poets’ Scroll offered to publish it if Howard subscribed for $3. Howard described the arrangement as effectively paying for publication, but said he intended to do it because he wanted the sonnet in print.

The poem was published in The Poets’ Scroll in January 1929. An alternate untitled form begins “I carved a woman out of marble when”.

I carved a woman out of marble when
The walls of Athens echoed to my fame,
And in the myrtle crown was shrined my name.
I wrought with skill beyond all mortal ken.
And into cold inhuman beauty then
I breathed a touch of white and living flame —
And from her pedestal she rose and came
To snare the souls and rend the hearts of men.

Without a soul, without a human heart
She shattered mortal love and mortal pride
And even I fell victim to my art,
With bitter joyless love I took my bride.
And still with frozen hate that never dies
She sits and stares at me with icy eyes.