Life, 1920-12-30 · page 5 of 39
Life — December 30, 1920 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a reflective poem by Edouard W. Barnard titled "Ballade of Year's End," contemplating what one has accomplished during the past year. The poem uses repeated refrains—"What have I done with the days? What have I done with the year?"—to express uncertainty about personal achievement and legacy. The illustration titled "The Sheltered One" depicts a horse standing beside a parked automobile, suggesting a comparison between old and new transportation methods. This likely satirizes how some people (represented by the horse owner) clung to traditional ways while society modernized around them, or comments on economic disparities during an era of rapid industrial change. The imagery complements the poem's theme of reckoning with time and change.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ballade of Year’s End THIS is the end of the year! What have I done with the days? Have I hung Lanterns of Cheer High along tenebrous ways? Have I helped shuddering strays Up from the Valley of Fear? What have I done with the days? What have I done with the year? This is the cnd of the year! What have I done with the days? Blossoms—blue skies—waters clear, What have I sung in their praise? Unfinished still are the lays Tamar is waiting to hear! The What have | done with the da What have I done with the year? This is the end of the What have I done wi What have I built? Dim and drear, Only a pitiless maze! Out of its ominous haze ' Comes a voice s. «l austere “What have you done with the days? What have u done with the year?” Thus have I spent the bright days Seeking « lips to call dear! Seeking—the metal that pays! Thus have 1 squav a Sheltered One comicbooks.com