For many of us with dogs, we’ve already known the
unbearable sense of loss when faced with the passing of a pup. For others who
are sharing their love with their first dog, the sorrow is too painful to even
contemplate. Perhaps it was the weight of grief that drove an anonymous poet to
pen The Rainbow Bridge, a prose poem written in the 1980’s to help all of us
manage the unmanageable. To see in words, what we know in our hearts.
The Beginning Of The Rainbow Bridge.
Just where the idea of the Rainbow Bridge comes from
is not fully understood. Some believe the idea came from the Norse legend of
Bifrost. Bifrost is described as the Rainbow Bridge that connects the world of
the gods to the world of humanity. The Rainbow Bridge connects this world to
the next. With a rich green meadow for a dog to roam content, healthy, and
free.
The origins behind this piece of prose aren’t well
known. Since the poem began spreading around pet circles in the 80’s, at least three
men have taken credit for penning the prose poem. Paul Dahm, a grief counselor
in Oregon, was said to have written it in 1981. William Britton wrote and
published Legend of Rainbow Bridge in 1994. The last contender is Wallace Sife,
head of the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement, whose poem All Pets Go to
Heaven is on the association’s website. Whoever the author may be, the person
gave words to the place we long to know about, the place where our families are
reunited.
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