年nián年nián歲suì歲suì花huā相xiāng似sì，歲suì歲suì年nián年nián人rén不bù同tóng

What does 年年歲歲花相似，歲歲年年人不同 (nián nián suì suì huā xiāng sì suì suì nián nián rén bù tóng) mean?

年年歲歲花相似，歲歲年年人不同 (nián nián suì suì huā xiāng sì suì suì nián nián rén bù tóng) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "year after year the flowers are similar, year after year the people are different." In use it means: Nature remains constant while people change; the flower returns, the person does not. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Wood note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Goat.

Literally: "year after year the flowers are similar, year after year the people are different."

The reading

The flower comes back; the person is changed by the interval or simply does not come back at all. Nature has this form of consistency that makes it the background against which human change is most legible. The same blossoms on the same branch in the same garden frame a different person looking at them each year, and the garden does not notice.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element木 Wood
• Zodiac tie羊 Year of the Goat

Source Liu Xiyi 劉希夷·《代悲白頭翁》 (Dài Bēi Bái Tóu Wēng, Tang Dynasty poem)

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Nature, Seasons & Health, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Goat, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Rabbit.