قَالَ لِي: كَيْفَ أَنْتَ؟ قُلْتُ: عَلِيلٌ
He asked, “How are you?” I replied, “Ill.”
سَهَرٌ دَائِمٌ وَحُزْنٌ طَوِيلٌ
Unceasing sleeplessness and long-lasting sorrow.
In “qultu ʿalīl,” the understood sense is anā ʿalīl (“I am ill”). Omitting the subject makes the answer abrupt and spontaneous, suiting a sufferer who can barely speak. The following images expand the distress through sleeplessness and sorrow.
In constraint of the situation through pain or sorrow, suffering discourages elaborate speech. The omission works with the emotional setting; brevity alone is not the whole explanation.