Fire On The Hills

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



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.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

41 sec read
190

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBDEFGHIJKLM
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 748
Words 137
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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