Gathering stones
Stones in Taylor's writing can build something or destroy it, and she often holds both at once. In my tears ricochet the speaker says "we gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean, some to throw, some to make a diamond ring": the same stones could become a wedding ring or be thrown to wound. In Cassandra, "when the first stone's thrown" calls up stoning, a crowd turning on a person it has decided to condemn. The motif sits on a knife-edge between a stone that promises a future and a stone used as a weapon.
Stones stand for a relationship's unspent potential, the way it could have built a life or could be used to do harm, and Taylor usually leaves both possibilities in the same image rather than choosing. That choice between building and throwing is the tension the motif keeps alive.
Appears in 2 songs
“When the first stone's thrown, there's screamin'”
The first stone thrown represents the initial public attack or accusation, someone presuming moral authority to condemn the speaker, triggering the cascading riot of public condemnation that follows.
“We gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring”
Stones work two ways at once, the promise of a marriage (diamond ring) and the violence of stoning, so the relationship's potential is held in the same image as its destruction.