Translating Perfection: the DaoDeJing

I recently started working on my own translation of the DaoDeJing -- not because I am particularly experienced, but because I wanted to gain a better sense of its message(s). Of course, I've only gotten through a few lines so far, but in trying to appreciate the various meanings of each Chinese character, I'm beginning to get a deeper feeling.
For example, in the Mitchell translation we read:

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao

The word that Mitchel translates as "told" can also be translated "approved," implying that what is not "told" may also not be "approved". When you further consider that the character that he translates as the English word "eternal," originally meant something like a "lord's banner," the socio-political undertone to the text is strengthened. Simultaneously, a spiritual meaning is also implied as distinct from and preferable to the socio-political. All of this combines to set the stage for the broader message, i.e. disengagement from "approved" socio-political realities is (at least a significant part of) the Way. And, when you consider the sometimes dangerous nature of ancient Chinese politics, you can also see how you might live a little longer!

What further supports the complex-but-simple message(s) of the DaoDeJing, is the "less is more" approach in terms of diction. The original text actually has FEWER grammatical elements, which is to say fewer words, than normal speech would have, either in ancient China or now. At the same time, the "words" that ARE used, are QUITE specific. The resulting feeling is of a landscape that potentiates a flow of meaning just like a physical landscape suggests the course of flow for a river.

In the end, there is only one Way that a river COULD HAVE flowed. If you change even one element of the landscape (up to and including the person observing the river!!), a completely different Way is potentiated. Of course, in any event, the river ends in the same place, but by the time it gets there, it is no longer a river. It is part of the Infinite and has no form at all.

All of this in just the first two lines of this great spiritual work!