described an obsession with the passage of time and the existential dread that nature "does not prolong the youth of mankind". These feelings have been attributed by some recent writers to him grappling with his sexual orientation, but whatever the case might be, the fears and obsessions are all in accord with the speaker's eventual yearning for intimacy and the decision to rebel against the brevity of life. In his foreword to Gửi hương cho gió (Casting Fragrance to the Wind, 1945), Xuân Diệu wrote: Perched on a branch, the bird longs for its brook— it will break into song and not know why. Its ditties cannot make the fruits grow ripe; its carols cannot help the flowers bloom. It's profitless to sing, and yet the bird will burst its throat and heart to sing its best. (Huỳnh Sanh Thông's translation) In their analysis, critics Hoài Thanh and Hoài Chân viewed that the liveliness in the verse of Xuân Diệu was emblematic of the Vietnamese youth at the time, who had just been exposed to an immense world and, consequently, "the dreariness of the universe and the tragedy of the human fate". In the face of his epiphany, the youthful man chose to cling to love and reject everything. Such is the idea that also runs through "Tình trai" ("Male Love"), a poem in praise of the relationship between Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud that tends to be referenced as proof of Xuân Diệu's homosexuality: I remember Rimbaud with Verlaine, Two male poets, dizzy from drink, Drunk with strange poems, in love with friendship, Contemptuous of worn out forms, abandoning familiar ways. With parallel steps they tread their journey home, Two souls with flowery fragrance fresh, They go—weak hand in strong, Sharing love songs in breezy mists. They speak nothing of yesterday or tomorrow; Forget painted lips and colorful shirts; Ignore concerns over heaven and hell! No negotiation possible, they love each other. After the August Revolution in 1945, these sentiments are less noticeable in his verse, which by then had shifted towards praising the struggles of the people and Ho Chi Minh's independence movement. Like many other intellectuals of his time, including Huy Cận, Thế Lữ, and Nguyễn Huy Tưởng, he was described to have been "enlightened" (giác ngộ) and graced with a new purpose to live. He was involved in the early years of both the Vietnamese Writers'