transience

The reputation which the world bestows
is like the wind, that shifts now here now there,
its name changed with the quarter whence it blows.
Dante Alighieri 1265-1321: Divina Commedia 'Purgatorio'

Like that of leaves is a generation of men.
Homer 8th century bc: The Iliad

He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise.
William Blake 1757-1827: MS Note-Book

Look thy last on all things lovely,
Every hour.
Walter de la Mare 1873-1956: 'Fare Well' (1918)



tran·sient /ˈtrænʃənt, -ʒənt, -ziənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[tran-shuhnt, -zhuhnt, -zee-uhnt]
–adjective
1. not lasting, enduring, or permanent; transitory: "the transient beauty of youth"
2. passing with time; existing briefly; temporary: transient authority.
3. staying only a short time: the transient guests at a hotel.
4. Philosophy. transeunt.
–noun
5. a person or thing that is transient, esp. a temporary guest, boarder, laborer, or the like.
6. Mathematics.
a. a function that tends to zero as the independent variable tends to infinity.
b. a solution, esp. of a differential equation, having this property.
7. Physics.
a. a nonperiodic signal of short duration.
b. a decaying signal, wave, or oscillation.
8. Electricity. a sudden pulse of voltage or current.

—Synonyms 2. fleeting, flitting, flying, fugitive, evanescent.