Take care of the sense

Translating literature is generally an exercise in frustration. Again and again one has to make painful compromises and lose everything that makes the original text so beautiful. But once in a while, one gets the chance to do something cool.

I was translating a passage by Amalia Kahana-Carmon for a friend today. For copyright reasons I'd better not quote the whole thing, but it included the phrase קטורת המִצְער של הזעתר, literally "the small incense of the wild thyme". "Fragrance" sounds good, but loses the evocative reference to incense. "Mini-incense" just sounds silly.

My translation: "in scents of wild thyme".