On February 20th 1994, Dear Abby published one of the most recognizable poems about the love we have for our pets. This poem has helped many people through grief filled times, yet no author was ever mentioned. Since 1994, the search for who wrote the original poem has been an active mystery. That mystery has now been solved and the beautiful mind who wrote this poem has been discovered.
Over at The Order of The Good Death, Paul Koudounaris has shared the story of the creation of the original Rainbow Bridge Poem. After the poem had been published for 30 years in the United States, finally we can give credit to the original author.
The beautiful mind behind the pen is Edna Clyne-Rekhy and she is currently 82 years old, living in her homeland of Scotland, with her two puppies Zannussi and Missy. It was over 63 years ago when she wrote the original poem and it was in honor of her dog Major, who had passed away when she was only 19 years old. 
In talking to Paul about Major she said: “He was a very special dog. Sometimes I would just sit and talk to him, and I felt that he could understand every word that I said.” Which I know from personal experience as many of those reading will too, our pets have a special connection with us where they seem to understand us in a deeper level.
The grief and loss of Major was her true motivation to write. She said that there was no real inspiration from a place she imagined in her mind. She felt more that Major was guiding her from the other side as she wrote, to help her through the grief of his passing. Experts and scholars have speculated biblical or theological origins of The Rainbow Bridge, but when asked if the poem was inspired by anything of that sort she insisted that that was not the case at all.
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