If you witnessed @Sobhana and some of the community working on translating the Dhammapada, discussing the poetry of the word choices as we also discuss the Dhamma within and its impact on our practice, I think you would find much Spring 
here. Just this weekend another of our lay visitor friends joined the Google Doc Dhammapada club and she looked nothing like this 
.
But perhaps it does look a little dry and daunting laid out like this in response to sincere questions.
@thenoble, since I am just learning Pali, the literal translation for me comes first. So for the Pali word ‘pure’ I just write down ‘before’ as my first guess based on the meaning of the word from the dictionary.
pure, ind., before (both local & temporal), thus either “before, in front” or “before, formerly, earlier.” Dhp 348. Often meaning "in a former life”.
Then, I or our community together, looks at the context and some of the beauty and cleverness of the Buddha’s words begins to emerge. In this example one can see the letting go can be interpreted in all space (in front, behind, in between) and in all time (past, future, present). How beautiful - like a seedling 
developing and 
blooming the deeper Dhamma is enjoyed. 
I jokingly wrote, “Ah, but the answers lie within.” But I do think, particularly with the Dhammapada, that is so. When you read multiple translations and also start to explore the Pali, you sense within your own practice the impact of the words. Some translators are quite literal and some take liberties to get to the Dhamma flavor of the verse but use language that is more poetic in the translation. If the translation is leading to opening the heart and to deeper understanding, in a way, that is the best translation, at least for that reader at that moment.
In another thread Ajahn Brahmali gave the following advice:
This has been helpful to me. You know - gotta prepare the soil and plant the seeds before the flowers can grow.