The city of Okrona was the imperial capital, on and off, for more than eleven centuries (and it is still sometimes regarded as the empire’s cultural capital). On the occasion of the 150^th anniversary of the transfer of the imperial seat to Sensuka, the municipal government of Okrona decided to gift the citizens of the present capital with a monumental sculpture celebrating the enduring friendship between their two cities.

The sculpture was created by the famous sculptor Dinorfi (a native-born Okronan) and depicts three allegorical figures: two standing male figures representing the cities of Okrona and Sensuka, and a seated female figure representing the empire. The older male, who represents Okrona, has his left arm over the younger male’s (Sensuka’s) shoulder in a gesture of encouragement as the latter gathers the woman’s hands in his own. The represented meaning, then, would seem to be that of Okrona giving its blessing to the empire’s transfer of its capital to Sensuka.

It is noteworthy, however, that the Okrona figure’s right hand is resting on the empire figure’s shoulder. Indeed, on a close inspection he appears to be pressing into it in an almost sensual manner. Because of this, the sculpture was widely interpreted at the time as an allusion to a traditional (now rare) conjugal arrangement known as tramago. In such relationships, a woman (or man) has one live-in partner and another official partner who lives in another household, usually with another partner (who in turn has another partner living somewhere else, and so on). According to this interpretation, then, while the empire would now be “moving in” with Sensuka, she would continue to be Okrona’s lover as well.

This suggestion—along with the fact that the youth representing Sensuka, while handsome and muscular, has a somewhat vacuous expression, particularly when compared to the authoritative and distinguished-looking Okrona—made it so that the gifted sculpture was not all that well received by the Sensuka city fathers. Rather than being installed in the Tatarapa Gardens in the city centre (See n. 3), as initially planned, it was instead decided that the monument would grace an out-of-the way corner of the newly-inaugurated Sesquicentennial Park on Rateliska Island (See n. 22).

Although today it attracts few visitors, this area of the park, officially known as the Sensuka-Okrona Friendship Garden, is one of the city’s most enchanting spots. This view presents the garden in autumn, a season in which it is especially lovely. The red leaves of the maple trees combine with the green grass and the blue sea and sky to evoke the tricolor Okrona city flag. (Note, too, the small statue of a barbet dog, the emblem of Okrona. This statue also a gift from Okrona to Sensuka, this time on the occasion of the 175^th anniversary of the transfer of the imperial seat. The dog looks out to the northwest, in the direction of the ancient capital.)

Also of some interest is the inscription visible on the base of Dinorfi’s monument. It is a quotation from a poem by the Okrona poet Kimpo, which could be translated as follows: “Whether it be our first love or our last love, it is always the same love.”

Although the line seems appropriate to an affirmation of eternal good-will between the former capital and the present one, it is in fact taken a little out of context here. In its entirety, the original poem represents Kimpo’s paradoxical lament of the fact that the first girl he fell in love with turned out to be the love of his life. Because of this, he was never given the opportunity to project his feelings onto the wrong people, to break hearts, and to have his heart broken in turn—all of which, he reasons, would no doubt have led to him writing far better poetry. What the poet desires is not to fall in love again, for a genuine and reciprocated love for someone, he believes, is always ultimately the same emotional state, no matter with whom it is shared. What he feels he has missed out on are the tormented longings, the tearful supplications, the all-consuming jealousy, the wordless goodbye-forevers, the great misplaced hopes of all those aborted attempts to plant a love in a soil on which it could never properly grow.