The poem “The Rainbow Bridge” has long comforted animal lovers who are mourning a pet. But for decades, its author remained a mystery. https://t.co/i8YqEkvWaZ
— Mental Floss (@mental_floss) June 6, 2024
When a pet owner tells you that Fluffy has crossed the Rainbow Bridge, you know in an instant what that means. It is a reference to a poem that has been posted and reposted for thirty years, since Dear Abby published it in 1994. She did not have the author's name, and it remained a mystery for decades. But the first sentence in this post, while in common usage, doesn't fit with the source. If you read the full poem, a pet does not cross the Rainbow Bridge to heaven immediately, but enjoys playing with other pets, all in good health, until the person who loves them joins them to cross the bridge together. If you are tearing up thinking about it, you are not alone.
It was only last year that author and historian Paul Koudounaris tracked down the author and the real story behind "The Rainbow Bridge," which was originally written in 1959! Read how the tear-jerking poem came about at Mental Floss.