Hymen is a classic American poem by the great American poet, Hilda Doolittle. As from a temple service, tall and dignified, with slow pace, each a queen, the sixteen matrons from the temple of Hera pass before the curtain--a dark purple hung between Ionic columns--of the porch or open hall of a palace. Their hair is bound as the marble hair of the temple Hera. Each wears a crown or diadem of gold.