Under an oak, in stormy weather,
I joined this rogue and whore together;
And none but he who rules the thunder
Can put this rogue and whore asunder.

In these lines Swift adopts the voice of a mock “marriage” officiant to deliver a coarse, satiric epigram. The “rogue and whore” are paired as if by a solemn rite, but the setting—“under an oak, in stormy weather”—and the appeal to “he who rules the thunder” (Jove/God) turn the ceremony into burlesque. The joke hinges on the parody of the marriage formula “what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder”: Swift replaces pious union with a scandalous coupling, implying that some alliances (political, social, or sexual) are as unseemly as they are indissoluble. The thunder imagery underscores both divine authority and the violence required to break such a bond.