Waiting

hoe snel een huis waar niemand woont
iets van hout en zee aanneemt
of steen en ruist terwijl het wacht
en 's nachts naar adem gaapt

zijn hier grenzen als de schroom
tot wat van een ander is
als schroom tot schaduwen van
steen en ruist terwijl het wacht

als schroom tot hout en zee of
's nachts wat van een ander is
als hier een huis waar niemand woont
en ruist terwijl het wacht

It's partly about waiting again.

The phenomenology of waiting fascinates me: obviously it is an intentional attitude, but it is neither really active (in the sense that it motivates specific actions) or really passive (in the sense that it does not require mental involvement). And even though waiting is usually waiting for something specific to happen, it is possible to "just wait".

"Just waiting" appears to be what the abandoned house is doing in this text. Which makes it seem a strange, inhospitable, decidedly "unhuman" place but at the same time a place with a definite sense of belonging to someone else. This is unsettling to the speaker, who uses the word "schroom" (reticence, timidity etc.) for his emotive response.

The effect here is not unlike the Uncanny Valley of robotics: as robots approach human form and human behaviour, our emotional response to them becomes more positive and empathetic, up to a certain point just before "perfection". As soon as the robot is almost human, it becomes plain freaky.

The same thing happens in most fields of human experience. We're quite good at dealing positively with situations that are really weird, while things that are just ever so slightly off can be deeply, deeply disturbing.

All of which pleases to poet in me to no end!

pictures
Abandoned House: pilfered from some website and recut and adapted to my purpose
Four eyed guy: from the Schedelsche Weltchronik