Tel Aviv’s Sheinkin . . . two views of the same street.     Photos by Diana Rubanenko 

So the charm of your storybook cottage has faded

Your views on things rural now jaundiced and jaded

With fine country living becoming a peeve

You upped stakes and headed for old Tel Aviv

When childhood haunts beckon, no problem, you reckon

And are next seen a’ renting a nice place on Sheinkin

Here your business is nobody’s business but yours

And outside the wheeled traffic so pleasantly roars

And there’s joy to be had from the high fashion stores

Which half of the duo so gaily explores

And when you’re back home and behind your closed doors

With your own music playing, your spirit just soars

So down with rusticity, hail anonymity!

Head for the seashore and gaze on infinity

Now if you are seeking some specialist care

For your face or your feet or your nails or your hair

A café with cachet, say, or something to wear

Seek no further than Sheinkin, there’s everything there

For Tel Aviv’s streets are a’ bustling and teeming

The brightly lit shop-fronts enticingly gleaming

And here come the in-crowd so nonchalant seeming

But all the while busily planning and scheming

While trendy young shoppers and blithe teeny boppers

Buy bottles of perfume with fine silver stoppers

And sweet-talking hawkers of velvety funk

Sell trinkets and treasures and much New Age junk

And your pastry is tasty, your coffee is steaming

And under the moon the White City lies dreaming

If the sights and the sounds and the smells you delight

Then you’ll know you’ve come home and the place is just right

While twinkling from Sheinkin a garland of light

Sends a message of welcome and bids you good-night.

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