The poetry, composed in semi-cursive calligraphic script, employs the literacy form of the couplet - a pair of complementary verses set side by side. A complex combination of visual symmetry, linguistic precision and calligraphic talent, the adjacent characters in each of the verses are well-matched in meaning. The calligraphy was first written in ink on rice paper, before being scanned into a computer and reproduced on the granite tiles. Each of the Chinese characters was cut out from grey slabs and inlaid into slabs of darker tone hollowed out for the characters. Placing the work on the floor, however, was considered unusual, as calligraphic works were usually placed on walls in auspicious positions. Tan explained that since life comes from earth, the earth is as auspicious as the sky. The artist intended to lay the characters on the same earth the first settlers had set foot on.