at every point it speaks a syllable
chimp-grunts will count
and bird chirps, mouse squeals
etc
the human pattern is silence when alone,
(stripes wide unto vanishing)
and taking-turns in groups
(rapid stripes jumping branches
speaker to speaker and back)
occasionally groups will
grunt or chant or sing
in unison
stripes aligned in space
often one human
will complete another's thought
stripes halted as if stolen
silent spells, in groups
are often uncomfortable
punctuated by throat-clearings
like the gaping gaps
in a flowing speech
broken up by ums and ers
or likes and y'knows
unison is easiest
at a steady rhythm
but for normal speech
the opposite is practiced
modulation
if we measure the average gap
between syllables
we can paint any branch-segment that
spans exactly that average gap
a uniform yellow
shorter spans can be redder
longer, greener
so long spells of silence
are deepest green
and rapid chatter is
yellow-orange-red
but now we again consider
steady rhythms
of any speedcolor
in (almost) unchanging
color-lengths
and where that change is truly zero
in perfectly steady rhythm
we change the color to uniform purple
and where a change speeds up, red
and where it slows down, blue
(the derivative, in calculus)
now the rare human purple passages
will be people speaking
almost robotically
while vivacious humans
will flicker red and blue
music and poetry
have a regular tempo
of notes or syllables
layered with a slower
secondary beat
also regular
