This thread makes me want to grow my hair long and walk around in black all day. Oh, wait...
Okay, serious answer. I think it's impossible to pin-point something like this. I think emotions and feelings are something that are slowly worn down by experiences - we simply like to remember specific moments in our life because they heavily represent the "death" of whatever it it we feel we've lost.
I used to write a lot more than I do now. I used to have things to say all the time, and I used to be able to weave words and stories with a single thought. I was so amazed with everything around me that I couldn't stop myself.
Move on five years, and I couldn't be further away being that person than I am right now. I just don't write, and I find the world around me to a very disheartening place to look at. It looks dirtier and grimier, inside and out.
But I'll be damned if I could tell you exactly when this happened, and I'm not even sure how or why. There's been days where I've almost felt like I could look at things that way again, and write that vigorously and passionately again, but it never comes to pass.
Reading a post like this, you might think otherwise. Moments like this, when I'm thinking about such things as the questions posed in this thread, seem to be the only times when my thoughts are this effectively free-flowing.
If anyone has some answers, I certainly wouldn't mind knowing them.
The symbolism is so internalized and convoluted that I'm not sure that this makes sense to anyone but me, though...
Your choice of imagery and their meaning was about as subtle as a punch to the face.
*considerate e-hug*