Before Assembling Furniture
To St. Joseph the Worker
St. Joseph, patron of workers, who labored in wood and surely knew the vexation of a joint that would not meet, be with me now before this flat and unpromising box.
Grant me patience for the instructions, that I read them before and not after; grant me all the parts the manifest promises; and let the leftover screws at the end be few, and truly unnecessary. Steady my hand upon the small hexagonal key, and keep intemperate words from my lips when the panel goes in backwards, as it will. Amen.
