Open the doors, open the gates,
Here comes the bride full of magnificence1
She has been a whore, she has stolen,
Spread flowers for the hangman's bride!
No wreath of myrtle in her black hair,
no veil and no altar,
no priest for the ritual,
the groom is ostracized and bald
He softly calls her his small wife,
and eyes her meager body
The group of guests in rags,
crowds around her and laughs and screams:
Open the doors, open the gates,
Here comes the bride full of magnificence
She has been a whore, she has stolen,
Spread flowers for the hangman's bride!
Once she was as guiltless as a doe
and her skin was like new snow
but in the cornfield by the house
they cast out her innocence
In a dark night
she killed her small child,
that slept unborn inside her,
that didn't defend itself and did not cry out
Open the doors, open the gates...
1. These lines are based on a hymn that starts "Macht hoch die Tür, die Tor macht weit; es kommt der Herr der Herrlichkeit", usually translated as "Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates; behold the King of glory waits"