In some old outdoor writing I’ve noticed the …

In some old outdoor writing I’ve noticed the phrase “the Red Gods” multiple times and wondered where it came from. I think it comes from Kipling’s The Feet of the Young Men.

While the poem draws me in with the lust for springtime adventure it stirs after a long, frozen winter, I can’t help but notice the romanticization and appropriation of indigenous spiritual practices. Probably best to leave that one in the old books.