Fire on the Hills - Robinson Jeffers

The deer were bounding like blown leaves 
Under the smoke in front the roaring wave of the brush-fire; 
I thought of the smaller lives that were caught. 
Beauty is not always lovely; the fire was beautiful, the terror 
Of the deer was beautiful; and when I returned 
Down the back slopes after the fire had gone by, an eagle 
Was perched on the jag of a burnt pine, 
Insolent and gorged, cloaked in the folded storms of his shoulders 
He had come from far off for the good hunting 
With fire for his beater to drive the game; the sky was merciless 
Blue, and the hills merciless black, 
The sombre-feathered great bird sleepily merciless between them. 
I thought, painfully, but the whole mind, 
The destruction that brings an eagle from heaven is better than mercy..