Du Fu moves into a new place

And gradually takes ownership

Du Fu’s cottage in Chengdu, in its restored splendour today. It’s a lovely place to visit, but presumeably looked a lot shabbier when Du Fu first moved in.

Four Short Poems (About my New Cottage)
Du Fu

No. 2 (nervousness)

I was going to place a fish trap, when the clouds came down
The May weather chilled, and the rain splashed cold

It doesn't feel safe, though my rocks and planks are piled high
The water dragons lived in this stream long before we arrived

杜甫  绝句四首·其二
欲作鱼梁云复湍，因惊四月雨声寒。
青溪先有蛟龙窟，竹石如山不敢安。

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This short series by Du Fu is puzzling, because it contains what is to my mind one of the most dizzying and transcendent poems in existence; but the other poems in the series seem rather lightweight in comparison. I’ve reordered the four and added new titles in parentheses in an attempt to make emotional sense of how these poems might fit together.

They were written soon after Du Fu arrived in Chengdu as a refugee from the war around the capital. He was lucky enough to be furnished with a little cottage by a friend, but his existence was precarious.