you still have yourself

By: Fernando Samalot

A spectacular, tender-hearted poetry debut.

you still have yourself is a contemplative collection of poems and reflections that follows an inner journey through loss, transformation, and return. Structured around the passage of time and embodied as different inner archetypes, the book unfolds across five sections, each representing a distinct season of becoming.

The narrative is guided by recurring inner figures: The Lover, who moves through awe, devotion, and presence; The Melancholic, who descends into grief, shadow, and solitude; The Sage, who gathers wisdom through lived experience; and The Elder, who reflects on life from a future vantage point shaped by memory and meaning. Together, these voices form a layered portrait of a self in motion rather than a singular protagonist.

Set within both inner and natural landscapes, the book moves through forests, rain, nightfall, dawn, and shifting light, using nature as a living mirror for impermanence, healing, and renewal.

As the narrative deepens, what initially feels like fragmentation becomes integration. The journey resolves not with certainty or closure, but with presence. In returning again and again to the self, the book reveals its central truth: even when everything familiar falls away, there is strength, healing, and quiet power in having oneself.