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In his 1930 novel, As I Lay Dying, author William Faulkner employed several narrative voices, including that of the recently deceased. The band Freelance Whales employs much the same technique in their song, Generator, Second Floor.

And since you are my friend

I would ask that you lower me down slow,

And tell the man in the black cloak

He doesn't need to trouble his good soul

With those Latin conjugations,

And if it's all the same to them

You should tell your gathering friends

Please not to purse their faces grim

On such a lovely Sunday.

Don't fix my smile, life is long enough,

We will put this flesh into the ground again.

I've never felt comfortable with the expression, "Life is short." Life is the longest thing you'll ever know. Any concept of time longer than your own life is just imagination and speculation. Your life is the longest thing that you'll ever experience. It's not short.

"As I lay dying, the woman with the dog's eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades." - Homer