Rainbow Bridge (pets)
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The Rainbow Bridge is a metaphorical or mythological place often referred to by people whose pets have died. It is the theme of a work of poetic prose written some time between 1980 and 1992, which has gained wide popularity amongst animal lovers who have lost a pet. The belief is that the souls of deceased pets go to wait for their owners in a green meadow paradise. On the day their owners arrive, they both cross the Rainbow Bridge and go into heaven together.
Although no religion specifically refers to such a place for pets, the belief is similar to the Bifrost Bridge of Norse Mythology. Its source is a story whose original creator is unknown.
In many pet-related communities and animal-related organisations, pets who have died are often referred to as being At the bridge or ATB.[1]
The poem itself is often treated by the public as effectively being public domain since no confirmation of authorship and provenance has been definitively attached to it, and because of its wide circulation and republication worldwide.[2] It should be noted that copyright resides in an authored work, and would be enforcable if provenance and authorship were ever to be definitively decided.
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[edit] Authorship and background
Having been circulated and attributed sufficiently widely around the world, the original authorship of the poem is now uncertain. About.com suggests that there are three known contenders at present:
- Paul C. Dahm, a grief counsellor in Oregon USA, said to have written the poem in 1981, copyrighted it in 1994, and published it in a 1998 book of the same name. [1]
- William N. Britton, author of Legend of Rainbow Bridge (1994, ISBN: 0964501805)
- Dr. Wallace Sife, head of the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement, whose poem All Pets Go to Heaven appears on that website as well as in his book The Loss of a Pet.
The first mention of the "Rainbow Bridge" poem on the internet is a post on the newsgroup rec.pets.dogs, dated January 7, 1993, quoting the poem from a 1992 (or earlier) issue of "Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League Newsletter", which in turn is stated to have quoted it from the Akita Rescue Society of America. Other posts from 1993 suggest it was already well established and being circulated on the Internet at that time, enough for a single line quote to be expected to be recognised by other newsgroup readers.
Natural and mythical Rainbow Bridges exist elsewhere, for example, the natural Rainbow Bridge National Monument in Utah, and the Rainbow Bridge legend told by the Chumash people of Santa Cruz Island. [3]
[edit] 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…
– Author Unknown
[edit] References
- ^ For example here
- ^ A google search for notable phrases from the poem indicates that as at December 2006, the poem has been republished in full some 25,000 - 28,000 times on web pages, and around a further 700 times on newsgroups.
- ^ See: this page
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Rainbow Bridge websites
- Pet loss forums
