no longer say, I may be, but, I am

Your learn'd identities untie 

And in the nuptial bed (love's altar) lie 

        A pleasing sacrifice; now dispossess 

Yourselves of chains and robes which were put on 

To adorn the day, not you; for you, alone, 

        Like virtue and truth, are best in nakedness; 

        This bed is only to the single state 

A grave, but to a better one, a cradle; 

Till now you were but able 

        To be what now you are; so that you might 

No longer say, I may be, but, I am, 

        Tonight put on perfection and a lover's name. 

 

[John Donne {1572-1631} 'An Epithalamion for Lawyers' {adapted by Robert Hass}, from Into the Garden]