To lovers! — the have-been's, the are-now's, and the may-be's.

The toast-like line salutes “lovers” across time: those one has loved in the past (“have-been’s”), those loved in the present (“are-now’s”), and those only imagined or hoped for (“may-be’s”). Its wit lies in treating love as a continuum of states rather than a single fixed relationship, acknowledging nostalgia, immediacy, and possibility in one breath. The phrasing also carries a faintly ironic, social-toast flavor—suggesting a speaker who is worldly enough to recognize that love is often plural in memory and in prospect, even when convention prefers singular devotion.