Words and Hope Options

[ChrisHarvest]

Build our church for it
with sands on a narrow beach.
Salt of earth,
glimmer of light
in each handful
we reach.

To be silent
as hands prune
and knees abrade.
Each contorted night
burned soles crisp
sans sun's shade.

In morning, after
waters rise and recess,
we resolve, for it,
to be tried again.

[Critter]

I was focusing on the sound here which is working well I think. In that regard the last line of S2 may be bit of a stumble. I guess one can make it work if you know it is coming but first time readers might find it a stumble. Other than that this works for me.

[K.S. Lenk]

A deeply religious piece with two rhyming stanzas and one without.

I like the tone of it, a drone-like sound.

'It' refers to the title twice, which is nicely done, but perhaps lacks some variation.
If you wanted 'it' to be a recurring theme, it should have been used in stanza two as well.

I always believed it to be 'salt of THE Earth'.

The 'sans sun's shade' line is a tongue-twister and I would advise changing it.

Regards,
K

[greenwich]

Can hands prune ? Secateurs can. Anyway the poem seems to be about dedicating a site to the Lord, maybe some plant / natural references. I cannot focus on all the themes. I feel you cover so much ground. The waters rise and recess, sounds akin to the creation story.