Sonnet III

Were flames to weep and extinguish themselves,
And flowers yielded berries boundlessly,

All symphonies enchanted soundlessly,

And subtle men replaced their drawers with shelves,

The wisest lovers of the world would know

A poet seized sublimity’s effect

(The consequence of modesty’s neglect)

And painted the most paramount tableau---

Not with illustrious or lionized

Characters, nor with colors, lines, nor shapes,

Not with lambency nor obscurity

That silhouettes the forms Plato baptized,

But by way of suffered action that crapes

The strokes and brushes with impurity.

Reviews

[emipoemi]

How this gem has gone unappreciated for so long is beyond me! Not sure if you were going for proper iambs, but given most of the lines did have proper iambs, the few that didn't kind of undermine the marvel and beauty of the entire piece. But the line that had a distinct problem is the first line. It's not bad - it's an utterly fantastic start - but the way the following three lines flow are not compatible with "Were__to" but rather "If" (and yes, both expressions mean the exact same thing, but the device you're using tends to require the implication of the exact word/phrase, just so you know). But daaaamn!! This poem in its message is divine, in its word choice stupendous. If you find any way to make those tweaks, all the power to you, but the poem as a whole still blew me away. Well done!!