Speaking (Oritz)

I take him outside
under the trees,
have him stand on the ground.
We listen to the crickets,
cicadas, million years old sound.
Ants come by us.
I tell them,
"This is he, my son.
This boy is looking at you.
I am speaking for him."

The crickets, cicadas,
the ants, the millions of years
are watching us,
hearing us.
My son murmurs infant words,
speaking, small laughter
bubbles from him.
Tree leaves tremble.
They listen to this boy
speaking for me.

The tone of this poem suggests at the pride that the father has for his son as well as the wonder that he feels at his son's ability to speak with nature. There is a contrast between the father's need to speak for his son and the son's apparent joy in nature. The father feels at first that he has to do all of the talking for his son, but he soon finds that his son's way of "speaking" is better. It is the son's innocence and joy that actually evokes a response from the tree. The author is making a statement by showing how the son's incoherrent murmurs and laughter create a better understanding from the things he is speaking to than do the father's precise words. The father feels a need to explain what he is doing and who he is with, but the son's contentment with who/where he is makes more of a connection between him and the acceptance of nature. The repetition of "millions of years" suggests that the father has become separated from nature as the cares of his life start to get the best of him. It emphasizes the contrast between him and his son. His son has the carefree spirit of youth and someone who is being cared for while he is stressed by the world and his need to explain what he is doing and who he is with.