History Literature / RainbowBridge

* WorldOfMammals: The poem mostly reflects on mammalian pets, like dogs and cats. Presumably there's places for fish and other animals before the Rainbow Bridge but it isn't discussed in the poem.

Upon death, any animal who was special to a human goes to a meadow near Heaven where all such animals play together. It's always sunny there and no one is ever troubled or in pain. The pets are happy and healthy, but they are always looking for the person they left behind. Once their owner passes, they are reunited and they cross the titular Rainbow Bridge into Heaven together.

You have may have heard of this poem if you've worked with animals or been on websites themed around animals. The poem gets cited constantly but, surprisingly, the actual origin of the original poem remained uncertain for a long time, in part because its author had never self-identified and had declined to formally publish it. It was long speculated to have been written sometime in the 1980s or '90s, but is far older than that: eventually it was traced to a Scottish teenager named [[https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/the-rainbow-bridge-the-true-story-behind-historys-most-influential-piece-of-animal-mourning-literature/ Edna Clyne-Rekhy]], who penned the original at age 19 in 1959, to commemorate the loss then of Major, her Labrador retriever best friend ("furbaby" would be the modern term).

The six-stanza rhyming poem, however, originates from Diane and Steve Bodofsky. They ran a ferret rescue and wrote the poem for grieving owners. A local vet asked them if they could put the poem onto cards for his patients, and the popularity of the poem soon spread nationwide and then internationally.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Generally the poem is thought to date to at most TheEighties. It is now known it's a full generation older, the original prose poem having been written in [[TheFifties 1959]].

You have may have heard of this poem if you've worked with animals or been on websites themed around animals. The poem gets cited constantly but, surprisingly, the actual origin of the original poem remained uncertain for a long time, in part because its author had never self-identified and had declined to formally publish it. It was long speculated to have been written sometime in the 1980s or '90s, but is far older than that: eventually it was traced to a Scottish teenager named [[https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/the-rainbow-bridge-the-true-story-behind-historys-most-influential-piece-of-animal-mourning-literature/ Edna Clyne-Rekhy]], who penned the original at age 19 in 1959, to commemorate the loss then of Major, her canine best friend ("furbaby" would be the modern term).

* {{Heaven}}: Despite common belief, the Rainbow Bridge" itself isn't "Heaven for animals". It's ''outside'' of Heaven and acts as a sort of Limbo for especially-beloved pets -- everything is pleasant for them except that they miss their people.

You have may have heard of this poem if you've worked with animals or been on websites themed around animals. The poem gets cited constantly but, surprisingly, the actual origin of the original poem remained uncertain for a long time. It was long speculated to have been written sometime in the 1980s or '90s, but is far older than that: eventually it was traced to a Scottish teenager named [[https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/the-rainbow-bridge-the-true-story-behind-historys-most-influential-piece-of-animal-mourning-literature/ Edna Clyne-Rekhy]], who penned the original at age 19 in 1959, to commemorate the loss then of Major, her canine best friend ("furbaby" would be the modern term).

* OlderThanTheyThink: Generally the poem is thought to date to at most TheEighties. It is now known it's a full generation older, the original prose poem having been written in 1959.

You have may have heard of this poem if you've worked with animals or been on websites themed around animals. The poem gets cited constantly but, surprisingly, the actual origin of the original poem is uncertain. It is speculated to have been written sometime in the 1980s or '90s.

Not to be confused with the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MashS3E2RainbowBridge of the same name]].

Upon death, any animal who was special to a human goes to a meadow near heaven where all such animals play together. It's always sunny there and no one is ever troubled or in pain. The pets are happy and healthy, but they are always looking for the person they left behind. Once their owner passes, they are reunited and they cross the titular Rainbow Bridge together.

Upon death, any animal who was special to a human goes to a meadow near heaven where all such animals play together. It's always sunny there and no one is ever troubled or in pain. The pets are happy and healthy, but they are always looking for the person they left behind. Once their owner passes, they are reunited and they cross the titular rainbow bridge together.

* {{Heaven}}: Despite common belief, "rainbow bridge" itself isn't "heaven for animals". It's ''outside'' of Heaven and acts as a sort of Limbo for especially-beloved pets -- everything is pleasant for them except that they miss their people.

* StairwayToHeaven: The pets are waiting to cross the rainbow bridge into Heaven.
* TogetherInDeath: The pets at the rainbow bridge are waiting for their special human to pass by. In the end, the owner is reunited with their beloved pet and they go to Heaven together.
* WorldOfMammals: The poem mostly reflects on mammalian pets, like dogs and cats. Presumably there's places for fish and other animals before the rainbow bridge but it isn't discussed in the poem.

Upon death, any animal who was special to a human goes to a meadow near heaven where they play together. It's always sunny there and no one is ever troubled or in pain. The pets are happy and healthy, but they are always looking for the person they left behind. Once their owner passes, they are reunited and they cross the titular rainbow bridge together.

->''Just this side of heaven there's a place called rainbow bridge...''

''Rainbow Bridge'' is a famous poem about what happens to pets after they die. There are two different poems: a prose poem and a rhyming poem.

->''Just this side of heaven there's a place called rainbow bridge''

You have may have heard of this poem if you've worked with animals or been on websites themed around animals. The poem gets cited constantly but, surprisingly, the actual origin of the original poem is uncertain. It is speculated to have been written in the 1980s or 1990s.

* {{Heaven}}: Despite common belief, "rainbow bridge" itself isn't "heaven for animals". It's ''outside'' of heaven and acts as a sort of Limbo for especially-beloved pets -- everything is pleasant for them except that they miss their people.
* SpeciesSpecificAfterlife: The animals live together just outside of heaven until they can be reunited with their owners.
* StairwayToHeaven: The pets are waiting to cross the rainbow bridge into heaven.
* TogetherInDeath: The pets at the rainbow bridge are waiting for their special human to pass by. In the end, the owner is reunited with their beloved pet and they go to heaven together.
* WorldOfMammals: The poem mostly reflects on mammalian pets, like dogs and cats. Presumably there's places for fish and other animals in rainbow bridge but it isn't discussed in the poem.

Upon death, any animal who was special to a human goes to a special meadow near heaven where they play together. It's always sunny there and no one is ever troubled or in pain. The pets are happy and healthy, but they miss the people they left behind. Once their owner passes, the two are reunited and they cross the titular rainbow bridge together.

* TogetherInDeath: The pets are perfectly happy, however they miss their owners. In the end, the owner is reunited with their beloved pet and they go to heaven together.

Upon death, pets go to a special meadow near heaven where they play together. It's always sunny there and no one is ever troubled or in pain. The pets are happy and healthy, but they miss the owners they left behind. Once their owner passes, the two are reunited and they cross the titular rainbow bridge together into heaven.

* AfterlifeAntechamber: Rainbow Bridge is this for the rest of Heaven; it is where departed animals arrive in preparation for their owners’ arrival in Heaven.

* {{Heaven}}: Despite common belief, "rainbow bridge" itself isn't "heaven for animals". It's ''outside'' of heaven and acts as a sort-of purgatory for especially beloved pets -- everything is pleasant for them except that they miss their people.

* StairwayToHeaven: The pets cross rainbow bridge to get into heaven.

* {{Heaven}}: Despite common belief, "rainbow bridge" itself isn't "heaven for animals". It's ''outside'' of heaven and acts as a sort-of purgatory for especially beloved pets.

->''Just this side of Heaven there's a place called rainbow bridge''