#but ehhhh didn't feel quite plausible. maybe they both left in a way

[whiskeyswifty]

I’m still stuck on the somewhat throwaway line in maroon “the rubies that I gave up.” I wanted to make a little more sense of it than a Ruby simply being another red thing. Yes, there's the obvious "rubies are categorized as precious gemstones" and she gave up something "precious" or rubies are one of the most expensive stones in the world, and she gave up something "valuable." but it still felt to surface level for my whirring brain. so I couldn’t help but dig a little and found in some historical accounts, rubies were known to adorn armor for battle due to how they were believed to give the holder “invincibility.” So you could say she gave up that safety, perhaps. Someone who’d protect her. Turns out, those soldiers weren’t far off as rubies are also the second hardest gemstone in the world, after diamonds. Both of which can cut through glass. They’re durable, solid, dependable when choosing stones for a ring or bracelet. They last forever. Maybe that’s what she gave up, a solid dependable relationship or person that could stand the test of time. Other times rubies represent courage, and can allow the holder to go through life without fear. Quite a sad angle, but maybe the serious pursuit of the relationship called for her to seize that courage, but she gave it up, choosing to hide and shy away from things instead of facing them and perhaps that helped lead to their demise. Rubies are also so deeply associated with passion, they’re considered the most emotional gemstone, especially when presented as a gift. You could say she gave up all that raw passion, maybe for something less emotionally driven and more sensible. They’re also known to be associated with the sun, so make of that what you will. I mainly can’t help thinking of the most famous ruby in the world, what most people think of first when thinking of rubies, which is not one single gemstone but a pair of shoes bedazzled with them. Dorothy clicking those iconic Ruby slippers 3 times, chanting theres no place like home so they’d take her there. How Taylor used to call their lips her home, but she gave up the rubies so she can’t click them three times to get home to their lips anymore. How she just mourned two albums ago that she can go anywhere she wants, just not home. maybe that's what she gave up.

It’s such a throw away line at the end of a verse, sung in a thrown away manner as well. and she seems to say in the bridge that they left her. But so much else in the song indicates taylor had little intention of making this a serious relationship or at least trepidation about it. the rubies line as well as the other person “sobbing with [their] head in [their] hands” and how they brought “carnations [they] had thought were roses, that’s us” saying the flowers are an ironic metaphor for their situation, how the other person thought they were deeply in love and committed, as roses tend to insinuate. However taylor laments how she maybe was never so sure, they were always just carnations to her. If they left taylor, perhaps they were partly driven to after taylor giving up on them, and devastated by her not fighting more for them to stay.

Or maybe the rubies are simply just another red thing, after all, in a half-baked song. but all this sure does make it more interesting, don't you think?