You remember Vodichka in the pocket of your mink
And Anastasia in the cleavage between your breasts
They are middle-aged now
I have lost one more tooth
Age extracts painlessly
What I am today is so full of yesterday
And some imagined tomorrow in Acapulco
I do not understand constellations
And yet I dare tread galaxies
To earn my daily bread
While Vodichka and Anastasia snore on.

                  

                   *Vodichka and Anastasia: the author's pugs, born in Russia, who have now migrated to India