Sicilian Cats
Earle Davis

The Sicilian cats are worse than rats
around a battlefield; tile-gray in color,
they are wild and slinking.

They feed on human flesh
and become more vicious
with the taste of blood.

I woke up once to find three perched
on the rail at the foot of my bed.

They were all staring at me.

—From An American in Sicily, originally published in 1944

CP

Earle Davis (1905-1991) served in World War II as a U.S. Army officer with the 1st Infantry Division. An academic after the war, Davis also authored Vision Fugitive: Ezra Pound and Economics, and The Flint And The Flame: The Artistry Of Charles Dickens.