Hello! Welcome to the August edition of Dr. Pet Mom’s Delightful Pet Menagerie (DPM) Newsletter. This month is all about the mystery behind the Rainbow Bridge poem.
Pet Loss
Even if you never heard of the Rainbow Bridge poem, you may already know the feeling of losing a pet.
Over the years, I’ve been a pet mom to 16 birds and Mr. Bean, the cat. Each bird had a name, a unique personality, and a shared their special song.
Mr. Bean was a kind soul who made me smile. Mr. Bean and the birds shared their short lives with me. And each one holds a loving place in my heart.
Grieving for a life lost is natural. I looked and found solace in the Rainbow Bridge poem.
What is the Rainbow Bridge?
Many support groups for grieving pet parents use this poem as a tribute to their beloved pets. The Rainbow Bridge poem brings warm memories of fun and love we shared with our pets.
This Rainbow Bridge is a mythical place connecting heaven and Earth. It is a place where grieving pet owners reunite for good with their departed furry friends.
The Rainbow Bridge Poem
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together...
Popular Poem for Pet Parents
For pet lovers everywhere, the Rainbow Bridge poem spoke to their hearts. People loved the idea of joining their pets in the afterlife. People were hopeful and the words eased their grieving for a lost pet.
In my research writing a book, I could not find a name attribute to the Rainbow Bridge poem. And that meant the author never received credit.
What’s the Mystery?
For many years, the author of this poem was attributed to “unknown authors” or “anonymous”. It couldn’t get more vague than that.
One website suggested that the poem was “written in the 1980s about pet loss”. Other sources describe the poem as the “theme of several works written in the 1980s and 1990s that speak of an other-worldly place where pets go upon death”.
For example, Paul C. Dahm, a grief counselor, was one of several authors erroneously attributed to the Rainbow Bridge poem and published a book with the same name.
Mystery Solved
Who is the real author of the Rainbow Bridge poem?
(I love this part of the story! As a researcher at heart, I believe original work should be credited to the original source.)
Finally, someone solved the mystery! Author and Art History expert, Paul Koudounaris dug deeper to find the real author of the Rainbow Bridge poem.
The true author of the Rainbow Bridge poem is Edna Clyne-Rekhy.
In 1959, Edna Clyne was 19-year-old teenager living in Balloch, Scotland. Edna had a strong and loving relationship with her first special dog, Major, a Labrador Retriever.
He was so gentle and obedient in nature. Edna and Major truly understood each other.
When Major died, Edna felt compelled to write something. She grabbed a notebook and wrote about her feelings as she mourned her beloved dog.
The words written by Edna are almost ubiquitous in the world of animal mourning.
To this day, tidbits from the Rainbow Bridge poem are quoted on posters, sympathy cards, and inscribed on stone tablets in pet cemeteries.
According to one source, “Her words are so well known that even though they are confined to grieving pet owners they comprise one of the most influential pieces of mourning literature ever written.”
Young Edna described the Rainbow Bridge as “a kind of limbo where deceased pets are returned to their most hale form and cavort in newfound youth in an Elysian setting. “
She wrote the original draft and changed a few words. Edna didn’t write it out again but showed it to a few of her closest family and friends. Then she put it away for a long time…
Small Circle of Friends
After Edna met and married Jack Rekhy, she showed him the poem. He loved it and suggested she publish it.
Edna resisted the idea as the poem was a something private between herself and Major. She only share it with close friends and made copies.
She typed each copy without her name. Edna didn’t think her poem would spread beyond her circle of friends.
People shared it far and wide. Edna had no idea that so many people were touched by her poem. But as the poem gained popularity, the original source was lost.
Other Side of the Pond
In 1994, a reader sent the Rainbow Bridge poem to the popular newspaper column, Dear Abby. The reader response was overwhelming with mailbags full of letters from grieving pet owners.
But the poem was published without the author’s name. People wondered about the author.
Dear Abby asked readers to credit the poem to the original author but no one had the answer. The United States Copyright Office lists fifteen separate claims under the title of Rainbow Bridge within five years of Dear Abby’s column.
Living in Scotland, Edna was unaware of the excitement on the other side of the pond.
And so the mystery began – the author of the Rainbow Bridge poem remained anonymous for years.
2023 Update
In February 2023, researcher Paul Koudounaris found Edna Clyne-Rekhy alive and well. She is 82 years old and lives in Inverness, Scotland.
Paul has written three books about death and mourning. Edna’s name came up on a chat group because of a book she wrote called Zanussi and Jack, about her late husband’s battle with dementia.
It has been 63 years since Edna sat down to memorialize Major. She still has the original the page on which she wrote the words to Rainbow Bridge.
The handwritten original text was hidden in a box in her attic.
Deep Meaning
The poem still has deep meaning for Edna who cried when she read the original text of her poem. Others who claimed authorship changed the text and Edna said it was wrong for others to claim it as theirs.
Edna is “simply flattered” that words she wrote as a teenager still has such deep meaning for many people today.
Edna never heard of Dear Abby, or her column read by 100,000,000 Americans, or that her poem was inscribed on tablets in pet cemeteries.
It’s true that any relationship with a new pet will never be the same as the relationship with the old one. But new relationships can be just as special and loving.
You can share you love with another animal, your previous pet would not want you to live without it.
In reality, the Rainbow Bridge poem is a wonderful homage of Edna’s love for Major.
Edna spends her days loving her two dogs, Missy, a Bichon Frisé, and Zanussi, an Andalusian Podenco rescued from horrific abuse in Spain.
Her philosophy is refreshingly simple: “If you love a dog, if you truly love it, it will always live on.”
You can learn more about Edna’s story in a podcast, Interview: Uncovering Pet Death’s Greatest Mystery.
And here’s a website of 30 Popular Rainbow Bridge Poems for Deceased Pets.
Thanks for stopping by!
Dr. Pet Mom
“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, and filling the emptiness we didn’t ever know we had.” ~~ Thom Jones
Book Update for August 2023
The summer season is winding down. Hope you’re having a great one!
A few hiccups in this month’s project to finish the cover. I’m still excited to launch in early fall 2023. My short ebook based on Dr. Pet Mom’s Delightful Pet Menagerie (DPM) Newsletter.
My latest book will include new info. I’m excited to share these updates with you!
“Wear the old coat and buy the new book.”
–Austin Phelps
A very touching and moving newsletter. Thank you for sharing the history of the Rainbow Bridge poem. It means so much to all of us who have lost a pet, or have ever shared their life with a pet.