Reuben, the speaker and also the title, imagines the stars calling out to him. It's a quiet, small moment: he looks up, counts the stars one by one, and feels that the sky is speaking to him personally. The word "Speak" in the opening line, set apart in quotation marks and brackets, reads like a request or a prompt, as if he is inviting the sky to talk, or being invited to talk himself.
What he feels seems to be wonder mixed with a childlike confidence. He tells us the stars "have names too, you know," in a casual, almost chatty tone, as though sharing a secret with a friend. His promise to learn them all one day suggests patience and ambition, and a wish to answer the stars by knowing them in return.
The mood is gentle, hushed, and hopeful. The parentheses make everything feel private, like thoughts whispered rather than said aloud. Nothing dramatic happens, and that's the charm: it captures the pleasure of looking up and feeling connected to something huge.