History is millions and millions of people telling stories to each other, to no one in particular, to everyone, and the
historian is trying to make sense out of the
cacaphony.
Sometimes, the people will begin to tell the same story, but all from different angles, different perspectives, and the historian will think that there is an overall trend, or ebb and flow to it all, and maybe the historian will be right.
But with each death, history comes to an end. As with each birth it begins again.
Update:
Wintersweet quotes a striking image of history from Laurie Anderson. This image recurs elsewhere here, where I've forgotten for the moment.
The origiator of this image is Walter Benjamin in one of his Theses on History. He is commenting on a painting of Paul Klee.
Isn't it interesting how we can use imagery, metaphor without knowing who made, or discovered it, and how much it dominates our life.