For me, the best sequential description for being dead comes from Python:
It's stone dead. This parrot is no more! It's ceased to be! It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies! It's curled up its tootsies and shuffled off this mortal coil! This is an ex-parrot!
One can't really put it any better than that, methinks.