The Doyen of Hindi poetry, Gopal Das Neeraj was a great poet and helped bring sensitivity, romance and wistfulness to Hindi cinema with memorable songs like 'Karwan guzar gaya, 'gubaar dekhte rahein' and 'Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye', which lived on decades after they were written. The legendary poet Gopaldas Saxena 'Neeraj' breathed his last on Thursday night in a Delhi hospital after a prolonged illness. He was 93 and believed poetry was the only medium that could describe the beauty of the soul.

In an interview with PTI in 2016, the poet-lyricist reflected on the nature of poetry itself.