In continuous querying of a data stream, a query including query cycles can be initialized (310) on a query engine to analyze the data stream for desired information. The data stream can be processed (320) as segments, where a size of the segments is based on a user-defined parameter. The query cycles can be synchronized (330) with the segments of the data stream. A first segment can be analyzed (340) by performing the query on the first segment to obtain a first result. A query state of the query can be persisted (350) and the query operation can be rewound to begin a new query cycle. A second segment can be analyzed (360) in the new query cycle by performing the query on the second segment based on the first result.