Out of sync with the world

I'd like to supplement myself
With something of the world
Gone by- A shadow, splintered
Or pin-prick punctures caused
By shards of shattered glass

I'd like to live to tell the tale
Where so many others failed
To see the epic unravel- And
When ghost ships moored across
Unstable waters, how they sank

Without a trace, without so much
As a sunken treasure- Not so much
To discover, as to teach the truth
To someone who cared to know
Even if, many years later, even if

All that mattered was the shell
The conch call of duty- Labors
Of love, contained within so many
Bosoms, lost at the bottom of
The bottomless ocean of secrets

I'd like to know what's real for once
To see for myself, that all this is not
For nothing- It is part of a greater
Pattern, I cannot claim to understand
I dare not choose to unravel, or

To loose the colored threads weaving
In and out, soliloquies sharing space
On a stage- Despite knowing there is no
Room for all, knowing someone must go
Take the final bow, move toward exit