A Different Child poem

I am Pandora Diane MacMillan (formerly Waldron), author of A Different Child poem, which was posted to this web site.  The poem is a tribute both to the baby I lost, Rhiannon Roxane, and to my rainbow baby, Madoka Marietta Rosalie.  It was written on March 4, 1999, the second anniversary of Rhiannon's death, and posted to the SPALS (Subsequent Pregnancy After a Loss Support - spals.com) mailing list to provide comfort and hope to all the mothers on the SPALS list, and as a poem I will show to Madoka when she's old enough to understand it. The poem has since gone out all over the world, all over the Internet, as I meant it to do. SPALS member Ann Douglas also requested to include this poem in the epilogue to her book, "Trying Again: A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss" published in 2000, and many women have since read my poem there.

What I did NOT mean to happen, was for my poem to be reposted with many errors and omissions and re-writes, including the omission of my dedication to both Madoka Marietta Rosalie and my lost baby, Rhiannon Roxane, the misspelling of my name MacMillian instead of MacMillan, and even the omission of my name as the author!  It doesn't feel very good for people to take your work without your permission, repost it as "Author Unknown" or even imply they wrote it themselves for their lost baby.  Many reposters erroneously think it is Madoka Marietta Rosalie who has died and know nothing about her lost sister, Rhiannon Roxane.  Imagine how uncomfortable that feels for me!  Madoka is very much alive and is 13 years old now.

Never mind that all these errors show a lack of respect to intellectual property, it shows a lack of respect most of all to my beloved children, for whom the poem was dedicated.  Ladies, just because an author freely offers you his or her work, that doesn't correspondingly give you the right to delete the author's name and dedication when you repost his or her work. If you have done this, there's an easy way to fix it.  Just print the correct version of my poem with its dedication from this link:  fictionpress.com/s/87202/1/A-Diffferent-Child

If it's too late to alter the web site or send a correction post, like it's in a reocities mirror of geocities or a really old web site, would you please spread the word to your friends and relatives where to find the correct poem A Different Child by Pandora Diane MacMillan (formerly Waldron): fictionpress.com/s/87202/1/A-Diffferent-Child

As of September 18, 2012, my poem is also still at my old idirect web site: http://webhome.idirect.com/~pandora1sama/RRWlink.html .  There are other poems and prose there honouring Rhiannon Roxane as well.  The idirect people have never taken down my site, though I left them years ago, only because they couldn't offer me a high-speed Internet connection at that time.  idirect still gets 1000's of hits to the old site. Maybe that's why they keep it.

It's so much work maintaining a web site, especially when they suddenly relocate the domain host and expect you to move all your stuff over, or lose the site (hello, Rogers), so I don't have a web site now. But I do have an e-mail esmerodo at gmail *******, whch I hope will last as long as Google does.  I like most features of Google so I pray for its survival in this rapidly changing technological world.

Rhiannon Roxane Waldron died of SIDS at 31 days old on March 4, 1997.  They still haven't found a cure for SIDS, but like cancer, doctors are realizing there are a variety of conditions being labelled as SIDS, so they would have to address all those conditions before they can say SIDS is "cured." I deliberately said nothing about SIDS in my poem; I wanted all the mothers who have lost babies to miscarriage, stillbirth or other causes of infant death other than SIDS to be able to relate to the poem as well.

As for me, I am content that A Different Child is still there bringing comfort and hope to other grieving mothers and fathers, and it is a tribute to both my children, Madoka and Rhiannon alike.  Love does not die when the one you love dies; I love them both alike.

If my words can bring joy, hope or comfort to others, it is in this way that I continue to honour the legacy of Rhiannon Roxane. Let your child's memory be a living one, sharing the love you gave with others, and not a cold piece of stone.

Sincerely,


(Ms.) Pandora Diane MacMillan