The New Metropolitans
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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