I dreamed a dream the other night,
little dearest dream of mine, I dreamed of my many loves
that I held in my arms.
While a fairly pale woman enters,
colder than the snow,
"where did you come from, my love?"
"how did you come in, my dear?"
The doors are locked, the windows and shutters too,
"I'm not love, lover,
I'm Death, and God has sent me."
"Oh, rigorous Death!,"
"let me live for a day!,"
"I can't give you a day, you have an hour to live."
He quickly undressed,
and he dressed again in a hurry, walking out towards the street,
where his love lived.
"Open the gates, Blanca"
"open the gates, dear girl"
"how can I open them, if the occasion doesn't call for it?"
"My father, hasn't left for the palace,
my mother is still awake,"
If you don't let me in tonight,
you'll never open anything else my dear,1
I'll toss you a silk rope,
So you may climb and come up,
And if the thread isn't enough,
I'll throw you my braids2
The silk rope snapped and broke,
Death was there and she came,
"Let's go, lover, the hour has come and gone".3
1. By this, he means if she can't do something like letting him in and risking her parents seeing them together, then she can't even let him into her heart etc.2. She's saying if the thread is too short, she'll add the braids of her hair to make the rope longer so he can climb up. Think "Rapunzel".3. Originally, she says something like "time's up", but I took an alternative to it.