3 new cases today,
4 dead, 1 a private doctor,
cumulative death toll 278.
Every afternoon at 4.30,
everyone waits
for these Sars statistics to decide
to wear or not to wear
a mask the next day.

278 dead,
in this hospital or that.
Before Sars, people used to die too
but no one gave you statistics
every day …

As the record rises
these few weeks,
moths have been appearing
as if from nowhere
in my home.
I do not remember seeing
them in previous years.
Flakes of cocoa powder
half an inch wide, almost
one and the same,
they perch on the edges
of our beige leather sofa,
on the white window sill
next to the toilet seat
watching as you sit.

Every time I bother to count,
there are three or four nearby.
They do not fly about.
They do not flap their wings.
They do not seem to feed
but on light and air.
They do not stare.
They just appear,
linger in silence,
disappear.

Have there been 278 of them?

Agnes Lam
31 May 2003
Rodrigues Court