A year after the previously anonymous author of a poem beloved by millions was discovered to be living in Inverness, Scotland, a bridge spanning Fort Creek will be rededicated as the Sault Ste. Marie’s “Rainbow Bridge”.
The city council voted this week to publish a copy of the Rainbow Bridge Poem on a plaque next to the bridge, along with a 10-foot-long rainbow arch mounted on a concrete platform.
The $18,000 miniature bridge over the Hub Trail will be covered with wire netting on which pet owners will be encouraged to attach pet tags with a lock.
The installation, suggested by Ward 3 Coun. Angela Caputo, is intended to provide closure and peace to all who mourn the loss of furry friends.
tea Rainbow Bridge Poemwritten in towards freedom more than 60 years ago by Edna Clyne-Rekhy, she comforted pet parents around the world:
Just this side of the sky is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been too close to someone there, that animal goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all our special friends to run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All animals that were sick and old are restored to health and vigor.
Those who were wounded or maimed came back healthy and strong, as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and contented, except for one small thing; each missing someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
Everyone runs and plays together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and stares into the distance.
His bright eyes are intent. His anxious body trembled.
Suddenly he starts running away from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You’ve been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling in a joyous reunion, never to be separated again.
Happy kisses rained on your face; your hands caress the beloved head again, and look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then cross Rainbow Bridge together.
Until last year, no one knew for sure who wrote the poem, which has been reprinted twice by Abigail Van Buren (Cara Abby), the columnist for the world’s most syndicated newspaper with 100 million readers.
Clyne-Rekhy’s verse has been handed out to generations of pet owners in animal hospitals, quoted in memorials at pet cemeteries and in social media condolences.
He wrote it after losing his first dog, a Labrador retriever named Major, in 1959.
It was just something she put down in writing for her own healing, but over time she showed it to some friends, who cried and asked for copies.
He wrote a few duplicate copies for them, but never included his name.
More than a dozen other authors have filed copyrights on the poem.
But Clyne-Rekhy moved to India and then to Spain, and was not aware of the huge audience her poem had acquired until she was contacted last year by Paul Koudounaris, an author and historian of art based in Tucson, Arizona, who was determined to solve the mystery. of the author of the poem.
“How the hell did you find me?” he asked, producing his original handwritten copy from 1959.
He was now 82 years old.
A month later, National Geographic the magazine confirmed the discovery.
Here in the Sault, city officials hope to complete the Rainbow Bridge before fall.
