I Did Not Survive. I Just Refused To Stop.

Share / Compartir

Shares

I am not Sisyphus¹,

I can’t go in loops

I was told to follow the herd,

Blindfolded and just bleat.

I followed my heart instead,

They said I am contagious,

Thrown in tartarus².

The scars are deep,

The scars are invisible.

I waited for the prince,

Then laughed at the joke.

I needed a spark,

The spark of the spirit,

The soul that couldn’t be crushed.

Close your eyes,

You have a world inside.

Wake up.

Get up.

It’s tough.

But one more time.

Just one push.

And there it is —

The firefly³.

¹ Sisyphus — figure from Greek mythology condemned to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll back down each time. The eternal loop of pointless struggle.

² Tartarus — Tartarus, the deepest abyss in Greek mythology, used as a dungeon of suffering. MissFit has been there. She came back.

³Firefly — bioluminescent — produces its own light. MissFit likes them because they carry their light within.

*These poems belong to I Did Not Survive. I Just Refused To Stop by MissFit Writes which is an extraordinarily abnormal account of an average Desi Muslim girl who watched, questioned, and refused to look away — for twenty years. Part memoir. Part essay. Part poetry. Part something that has no name yet. Raw. Honest. Sometimes funny. Often uncomfortable. Always real. The book explores identity, faith, grief, beauty standards, marriage pressure, belonging, and the courage to remain yourself in a world determined to make you fit. For everyone who has ever felt invisible, too much, not enough, or simply — wrong.

“You were never wrong. You were just in the wrong room.”

***

Purchase / Book Links:

Website, Goodreads, Books2Read , Amazon, Linktr.ee

MissFit Writes is a Pakistani author based in Dubai. Her work blends creative nonfiction, essays, and poetry to explore identity, faith, culture, and the complex experience of belonging between worlds.  She writes for readers who have ever felt invisible, out of place, or caught between who they are and who the world expects them to be.

©Literal Publishing. Queda prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de esta publicación. Toda forma de utilización no autorizada será perseguida con lo establecido en la ley federal del derecho de autor.

Las opiniones expresadas por nuestros colaboradores y columnistas son responsabilidad de sus autores y no reflejan necesariamente los puntos de vista de esta revista ni de sus editores, aunque sí refrendamos y respaldamos su derecho a expresarlas en toda su pluralidad. / Our contributors and columnists are solely responsible for the opinions expressed here, which do not necessarily reflect the point of view of this magazine or its editors. However, we do reaffirm and support their right to voice said opinions with full plurality.

Posted: October 25, 2026 at 10:26 am