These old Gods

I found them, slumbering in darkness, deep below the earth. At first I didn't notice their presence but the light penetrated the cavern and bounced off the walls, illuminating their faces and capturing my full attention. And as I beheld them, they beheld me, their ancient gaze penetrating the cavern. I wonder what reverence is still held by the Navajo, the Hopi, the Havasupai, all still there but diminished (ravaged?) by time and arrival of white European settlers and "Manifest Destiny"the relentless drive by a nation committed to "taming" the land and the peoples on them. Perhaps they are all but forgotten by most but for some whom never left the old ways they still rule....these old gods.