What is the special occasion in the poem "Wellfleet Sabbath"?Wellfleet Sabbath by Marge Piercy The hawk eye of the sun slowly shuts.The breast...

The novelist and poet Marge Piercy lives in Wellfleet,
Maine, which is located in the seaside area of Cape Cod.  In the poem "Wellfleet
Sabbath," Piercy describes the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath in her home by the
sea.

The Jewish Sabbath begins Friday evening at sundown
and continues until nightfall on Saturday evening.  Thus, Pierce's poem begins as
the "hawk eye of the sun slowly shuts"--that is, at
sundown.

Stanzas 1-3 describe the appearance of the bay,
the ocean, and the moon as night, and the Sabbath, take hold.  The most important aspect
of the Jewish Sabbath is peaceful rest, which Piercy alludes to with an
anthropomorphism:

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the sea
stretches its muscles in the
deep,
purrs and rolls
over.

In Stanza 4,
Piercy mentions three important ritual symbols of the
Sabbath:

a) candles, which are lit just before
sundown;

b) roast chicken, which is the main course of a
traditional Sabbath eve dinner; and

c) wine, which is used
to recite a blessing thanking God for the Sabbath.

The poem
ends with a description of how

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the Shekinah
comes on the short strong
wings of the seaside
sparrow raising her song and bringing 
down the
fresh clean night.

"Shekina"
is a Hebrew word roughly translated as the "presence of God"; in Jewish mysticism, it is
often described in gentle,feminine terms.  Here, Piercy imagines it fluttering in on
"the short strong wings of the seaside sparrow."  Like many poets before her, Piercy
finds God in nature.