At least I’m pretty sure it was Bradbury. I read so much of his stuff as a young man but I can’t place it for sure. I thought the name of the story was Remembrance, but I can’t find any reference to such a story on line. The idea of the story was that an older adult returns to his childhood town and climbs a tree he used to climb. And in some secret hole in a branch he finds a note that he left for himself and it says “I remember you.” And I found the idea confusing - maybe I misread it, maybe because I read it as too young a person? I would love to find that story, re-read it, and try to make sense of it. Any Dopers have an idea what the story was?
When Elephants Last in the Dooryard Bloomed might be found at your local library (maybe with inter-library loan). If not, you can find it here:
You were right on the title, OP, but it’s not a short story but a poem. You can read it here.
I put my hand into the nest. I dug my fingers deep.
Nothing. And still more nothing. Yet digging further
I brought forth:
The note.
Like mothwings neatly powdered on themselves, and folded close
It had survived. No rains had touched, no sunlight bleached
Its stuff. It lay upon my palm. I knew its look:
Ruled paper from an old Sioux Indian Head scribble writing book.
What, what, oh, what had I put there in words
So many years ago?
Thank you both so very much.
If anyone is interested, the title is a play on “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” Walt Whitman’s poem mourning Lincoln’s death. (Which I first heard of last week; how delightfully weird that it’s here again.)