Edgar Lee Masters - Frank Drummer

Out of a cell into this darkened space --
The end at twenty-five!
My tongue could not speak what stirred within me,
And the village thought me a fool.
Yet at the start there was a clear vision,
A high and urgent purpose in my soul
Which drove me on trying to memorize
The Encyclopedia Britannica!

Edgar Lee Masters

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/frank-drummer/