As I sit here by the bedside of my grandmother in Florida, I find these words give me comfort:

“It is good to have a reminder of death before us, for it helps us to understand the impermanence of life on this earth, and this understanding may aid us in preparing for our own death.”

Black Elk
Oglala Sioux

My sister points out that this reminder of death also helps us better prepare for our life going forward.

No one knows where the Spirit World is.
The ancient people said that it is beyond the pines.
The pine trees are at the edge of the world,
and beyond them is the path of the winds.
The Spirit Way begins there at the edge of the world
among the stars, and the winds will tell the spirits of people where to find it.

What is Life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow that runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.

Paul Goble
Beyond The Ridge Plains
Indian Tradition
Bradbury Press, 1989