T. S. Eliot: Excerpt from The Cocktail Party

UNIDENTIFIED GUEST

             Ah, but we die to each other daily.
             What we know of other people
             Is only our memory of the moments
             During which we knew them. And they have changed since then.
             To pretend that they and we are the same
             Is a useful and convenient social convention
             Which must sometimes be broken. We must also remember
             That at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.

Excerpt from The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot. © Mariner Books, 1964.

Image credit: "The Cocktail Party," oil painting on canvas, by Jane Roberts (originally color).