Desolate Dragon Raging Lion Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

Do you hear the dragon howl in the dead tree?
Listen to the lion's roar within a dry skull?
Is there joy after the death of awakening?
A dragon will not bide stagnant water
The still pond cannot contain the dragon's coils.
The warmth of spring will still touch the tree
Non-moving, non-living, non-attached.

At the water's edge, the ocean has dried up
But the moon is unhindered by the waves.
Mountain, ocean and sky forests lie inert
In each tip, each fork of deadwood
There is the sound of the dragon wailing.
Nothing can be grasped or attained -
In the dry broken branches there is only emptiness.

If the dragon moans, even then nothing may be realized
When there is a lion roar in the skull, something may arise.
The dragon plays joyfully and the lion watches -
Roots and branches must return to the source
The bark falls but the root-stock remains
Does anybody hear?
There is no one in the world who does not hear!

Deep nature is everywhere.Who does not have it?
No grudging, not clinging - joy without greed.
Knowing when to kill and when to give life to thought
Knowing when to comfort the dragon and calm the lion.
A thousand, ten thousand melodies still reverberate
The writing has grown faint and all sounds are one
Text and score have been erased and come to silence.