The poem opens with a startling comparison: something is "broken like a violin / played by a great composer." The image is odd and moving. A violin in a master's hands should make beautiful sound, yet here it is broken, as if being played that intensely has cost it something. The next lines suggest what the "something" is: "our passionate life / and the differences between us." The speaker seems to be looking at a relationship in which deep feeling and real distance exist side by side.
The last image widens the view. "This night and this day" become "islands about a city," separate pieces of time scattered around a center that holds them together without joining them. The title, "Vita Nuova," means "new life," which adds a quiet irony, since the poem sounds more like reflection on a fracture than a fresh start. The mood is tender, wistful, and a little sad, but also admiring. The speaker finds beauty in the breaking, and the brevity of the lines leaves room for that feeling to settle.