Writings

OF WHAT HOLY PURPOSE?

~Thomas Adams Corson

Primary sources are the best
Secondary sources aid the quest
But neither prove the test
Of what holy purpose?

Books and journals do fill the shelves
New depths of knowledge the scholar delves
But thinkers ask themselves
Of what holy purpose?

Publish or perish is the cry
Yet danger no author can deny
A condescending eye
Of what holy purpose?

Achievement and promotion come
So others look up and I look down
Is this to be the sum?
O, what unholy purpose!

Sooner would I rather perish
If vainglory is what I cherish
An answer I must seek
To this holy purpose.

Scholarship that truly serves
Publication that preserves
The fruit of one’s own labor.

Loving God with all my mind
In this I finally find
Holy purpose.

~Friday, April 14, 2000, Anno Domini