Rainbow Bridge (1)

During my journey through the Internet I found several variations of the story of the Rainbow Bridge. Initially for me it was impossible to find out who is the author of the original poem. Many variants were very similar. Then I thought the original author is Paul C. Dahm and all versions of the poem are based on his writing. In the meantime I learned that there are two versions of two authors. More versions are based on these two poems:

“The Rainbow Bridge” by Paul C. Dahm (here)

“Legend of Rainbow Bridge” by William N. Britton (here)

I found a confirmation for my opinion in the (partially quoted) article below.

After careful consideration, I decided to publish only the two versions of the poem on my blog, which are titled as original writing.

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The Legend and the Controversy Surrounding the Rainbow Bridge Poem

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When a pet that has been especially close to a person here on earth dies that pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge. So begins the first verse of the poetic prose known as The Rainbow Bridge, a poem whose cult popularity has increasingly exceeded the wildest imaginations.

First written between 1980 and 1993, this internet phenomenon has been comforting and bringing solace to pet owners who have lost a beloved animal. […]

Despite the popularity of the poem, the mystery remains as to who the original author was, and for that matter the origins of the poem. While being widely circulated throughout the internet for many years, the first mention of Rainbow Bridge arose in a newsgroup post on rec.pets.dogs, dated January 7, 1993, which quoted the poem as originating from a 1992 issue of Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League Newsletter. From there, the story was said to have come from the Akita Rescue Society of America.

While other posts have cited the poem as having already been well established and circulated prior to 1993, the authorship has been left a mystery. Having been copied and attributed as author unknown for many years, leaving many to believe it was of public domain. However, the story of the Rainbow Bridge seems to be in contention amongst two writers who lay claim to being the original author, or have written something remarkably similar to The Rainbow Bridge, Paul C. Dahm, a grief counsellor in Oregon, United States who is said to have written the poem in 1981, copyrighted it in 1994 and published it in a 1998 book of the same name.

Meanwhile, William N. Britton, the cofounder of Companion Golden Retriever Rescue copyrighted and published the Legend of Rainbow Bridge in 1994. On his website legendofrainbowbridge.com he offers a permission to post Rainbow Bridge disclaimer. In this permission to post form, it states that the work of Mr. Britton has been used illegally and stolen repeatedly and that use of his work without his explicit permission is a legal issue of copyright infringement.

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