"Star Light, Star Bright" is an English language nursery rhyme of American origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16339.
Lyrics
The lyrics usually conform to the following:
:Star light, star bright,
:First star I see tonight;
:I wish I may, I wish I might
:Have the wish I wish tonight.
Origin
According to folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, the superstition of hoping for wishes granted when seeing a shooting or falling star may date back to the ancient world. The song "Star Light, Star Bright" first began to be recorded in mid/late nineteenth-century America. It can also be found in an 1873 article from "To-day" magazine where the song is linked to fortunes. The song and tradition seem to have reached Britain by the early twentieth century and have since spread worldwide.