When you are 13 and attending your first Geography class,
Mrs. Ho will tell you that
“Singapore has an aging population”,
and then she’ll tap the spacebar
with a click far louder than its worth

and on the screen you’ll see
a stupa;
upon inspection, you’ll
realise it’s made of
several bars, branching
from a backbone
to form a population
graph.

Your grandma had six children,
she’ll say,
your mother had two
the current generation has none
we’re all going to be shouldering the responsibility
of an asian family tree
(like Mulan.)

the stats will start forming in your head
and then the reality will sink in
and then you’ll realise that it’s all true
and that humanities is depressing
and school is depressing
and life is depressing

then you’ll think about oversized SPI bags on little boys
about 8 year-olds memorising the multiplication table
and 4 years down you’ll look at your eyebags
and that look in all your eyes.

and you will submit to the geographical theories.