The Rainbow Bridge Poem

By SCAS Chairperson, Dr Elizabeth Ormerod, BVMS CF

The writer of the Rainbow Bridge poem was finally identified as Edna Clyne-Rekhy in 2023. Edna, a Scot from Inverness, wrote it following the death of her beloved labrador, Major, in 1959 when she was 18 years old.

Edna with Major

The concept related in her poem is that deceased pets arrive at a meadow where they are restored to health and there await their beloved humans. Their humans arrive following their death, and they then cross the Rainbow Bridge together to reach Heaven. The Rainbow Bridge is an internationally recognised concept associated with pet loss and has been replicated in images, essays and in subsequent poems.

Edna with Zanussi and Missy in 2023

The original 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 vigour; 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…

                                                                                   Edna Clyne-Rekhy 1959

Edna holding up the original handwritten version of her Rainbow Bridge poem

This rhyming version was later created by Steve & Diane Bodofsky….

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.

Steve and Diane Bodofsky

Norse Mythology

The Rainbow Bridge, known as Bifröst in Norse mythology, is of great importance in the mythological cosmos. According to the myths, Bifröst is a burning, rainbow-colored bridge that connects Midgard (the realm of humans) to Asgard (the realm of the gods).

The god Heimdallr stands before the rainbow bridge while blowing his horn (1905) by Emil Doepler.