lightfast, pair, hold, justice, endure

Here are our entries for the 2025 Given Word Poetry Competition. All our poems had to include the five given words: lightfast, pair, hold, justice, endure. See if you can spot them!

 

She Left

We were a perfect pair
We held hands to withstand our despair
She sought justice for our
            friendship
Walked in sync to endure
            our hardship
We were like lightfast fabric
            a bond that never fades
Tears fell under the shade
She was like a sister to me
            we skipped around carefree
On my own now, she found
            a new friend
I guess its just me now
            until the very end…

Ila Rutherfurd

The Pain Experience

I endure this pain
and cry out for justice.
I lost to a game,
holding my lightfast ball.
As I suffer from losing,
sitting alone with my hope
strip off my pair of shoes
and start to give up,
tears well up in my eyes.

Jharred Jacinto

22 February 2011 12:59pm

as I hold time between my palms 

I take a look around

these houses were built to endure centuries

but now they're torn to the ground

a pair of tears rolls down my cheek

I thought I was lightfast, indestructible

but now,

I’m lost

justice slips off of me like a stick of butter

Daisy Forster

Grandad, listen 

Grandad, hold your breath 

Grandad, pair your shoes 

Grandad, endure your justice 

Grandad, listen to me from the heavens

Lightfast hair never fades in the sun

Brodie Morris

The fear of losing

The laughter echoes, a lightfast melody,

in the chambers of my heart, eternally.

As I endure the hardship of grief, 

as I hold onto your ashes

I walk in the ripples of the ocean

thinking of your favourite spot to sit.

A pair of seagulls dive into the shining water

the birds fight for justice 

just like you.

 

Sankalpa Poudel